Differences come to fore as Cong finalises candidates for

As the Congress prepares to finalise its list of candidates for October 21 by-polls to 15 assembly segments in Karnataka, the party seems to be a divided house with differences cropping up between some senior leaders at a meeting held on Thursday, sources said.

At a meeting of state Congress' election committee attended by AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, some senior leaders have expressed their displeasure about state leadership's "unilateral style of functioning" and over accountability not being fixed for party's debacle in polls.

According to a top party functionary, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and CLP leader Siddaramaiah were in direct line of fire, at the meeting, fromB K Hariprasad and K H Muniyappa, who took exception to not being consulted during candidates selection process, and being called after names were "mostly finalised".

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Venugopalsaid, "we have discussed things, we are almost in the processof finalising candidates for bypolls, within one or two days we will declare the candidates..."
He said, "we had long discussion on each and everyseat, we will keep things that were discussed in mind and wewill have further consultation with our leaders, local leaders and we will announce it from AICC."
We have candidates in all the constituencies, there iscompetition in most constituencies for the ticket and in some places there are single name strong candidates."
Indicating that the party was also keenly watching developments in the Supreme Court, where 17 Congress-JD(S)disqualified MLAs have challenged their disqualification, he said, "once the Supreme Court order is out, we will look into things and announce the decisions."
However, terming reports about his resignation among other things as "speculations", Rao said, "when we discuss, different opinions come in, there may be differences some time, but we see what is in the interest of the party and takedecisions."
Rejecting reports of rift within the party leadership, Venugopal too said, "how can you say that? every body is right now very much concerned about the future of the party."