Cong finding it difficult to get candidate for Bangalore South

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The Congress seems to be finding it difficult to choose a suitable candidate for Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency that has remained a BJP bastion for long, with several probables including former Minister Ramalinga Reddy declining to contest.

According to Congress sources, along with Reddy, his daughter and Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, former MLA Priya Krishna and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda, who were approached to contest the polls from Bangalore South, have declined the offer.

Former Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who died last year, represented Bangalore South after defeating IT czar Nandan Nilekani in the 2014 Parliament polls.

"Initially I wanted to become corporator and to become Mayor, but when I was corporator for the first time, I got assembly ticket and went on to become MLA and then Minister, but I never wished to become a parliamentarian, so I'm not contesting," Ramalinga Reddy told reporters when asked about contesting Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore South.

Stating that he was approached by the party, he said, "as I had never thought about going to Parliament, I said I will not contest."