Hebbal bypoll: Setback to CM as Sharief’s grandson Abdul Rahman gets ticket

Bengaluru, Jan 27: In a major snub handed out to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, top central leaders of Congress picked former Union minister and party veteran CK Jaffer Sharief’s grandson Abdul Rahman Sharief for next month’s bypoll to Hebbal Assembly constituency.

The party high command has rejected the nomination of Independent MLC Byrathi Suresh, a close confidant of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Mr. Jaffer Sharief had lobbied hard to get ticket for his grandson. Jubilant over his grandson getting ticket, Mr. Jaffer Sharief said:, “Now the party has to work collectively to grab the Hebbal seat from the BJP.”

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, sources said, strongly opposed giving ticket to an outsider — Mr. Suresh, who is not yet become a Congress member. Apparently, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, too had opposed naming Mr. Suresh as the party candidate. Senior leaders Oscar Fernandes and B.K. Hariprasad too had opposed the candidature of Mr. Suresh, sources said.

The Chief Minister’s morale to lead the election campaign would be dented as “his candidate” (Mr. Suresh) had been denied ticket, a senior leader said.

Sources said that the high command had questioned the State Congress adopting different rules in two constituencies — Hebbal and Bidar. While the State unit had recommended the name of Rahim Khan — who had faced a defeat in the 2013 Assembly election — for the byelection in Bidar, it had opposed giving ticket to another defeated candidate, Mr. Rahman Sharief, in Hebbal.

The Congress high command therefore decided to field “party loyalists” so as to send the right signals to the party cadre ahead of the zilla and taluk panchayat elections next month.

Mr. Rahman Sharief had lost to Jagadish Kumar of the BJP in the 2013 Assembly election by a margin of just 5,000 votes in Hebbal, while Mr. Khan was defeated by Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli in Bidar by a margin of 2,000 votes.

Ms. Gandhi has approved the candidature of Rahim Khan for Bidar and V. Rajashekhar Naik for Deodurg. Mr. Naik is the son of A. Venkatesh Naik, the then Deodurg MLA who died is a train accident in November last.