Kesri Nominee Wins Karnataka Pcc

All India Congress Committee president Sitaram Kesris hold over the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has become absolute with his nominee, Dharam Singh, winning the Karnataka party presidential seat by over 90 per cent of votes.

S Bangarappas nominee, M V Rajashekharan, polled a mere 38 out of a total votes of 334, a severe blow to the former Chief Minister.

Senior leaders like C K Jaffer Sharief, Margaret Alva, Janardhana Poojary, S M Krishna and Veerappa Moily had wanted to appoint a president by a unanimous decision but Bangarappa insisted on an election. The issue reached a flashpoint when Subhash Yadav, deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, in-charge of party polls, was snubbed by Bangarappa. You are here to conduct polls, you do that, do not interfere. I am here as a voter. I will do my work, Yadav was told. After this, three of the 11 contestants to the state party presidentship withdrew their papers. Those who withdrew support to Dharam Singh included former Chief Minister Marpady Veerappa Moily and former Lok Sabha member S B Sidnal.

Prior to this, most state leaders, in an attempt to isolate Bangarappa, pooled their resources in favour of Kesris nominee Dharma Singh.

Singh had served as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president before for a few months.

The Bangarappa faction of the Karnataka Congress Party, which merged with the Congress following the removal of P V Narasimha Rao as AICC president, had chalked out a strategy to capture the state unit in the polls. Their plans, however, were foiled with the state returning officer Subhash Yadav announcing that the AICC will stand by unanimity.

The Bangarappa group fielded Rajashekharan, a former Union minister as its nominee while K B Koliwad, from the same group, remained in the fray due to technical reasons.

After getting elected as PCC chief, Dharam Singh announced: As was in the past, I will continue to run the affairs of the party, utilising collective wisdom of senior leaders. He said the time has come for the party to assert itself.

Dharam Singh, armed with an approval by the AICC president Kesri, has already met Union textile minister R L Jalappa, R K Hegde and other leaders in the Janata Dal to formulate a strategy for the post Deve Gowda-Patel scenario.