The Hindu : Karnataka News : Congress announces candidate for Bidar bypoll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Congress announces candidate for Bidar bypoll

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 19. The Congress today announced Narasingrao Hulla Suryawanshi as its candidate for the October 13 Lok Sabha byelection from the Bidar constituency and is poised to face both its coalition partner in the Government, the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Bharatiya Janata Party which had won the seat in the general election held on April 20.

The byelection has been necessitated by the death of Ramachandra Veerappa, MP. While the Congress's decision to field Mr. Surywanshi, a former MP, was announced by the AICC in New Delhi, the Janata Dal (S) leadership decided to field its own candidate. The two parties are stated to have held informal talks on fielding a common candidate without reaching unanimity.

However, the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, had spoken of the possibility of the two parties in the coalition fielding a common candidate.

The Janata Dal (S) leaders held a long meeting at the residence of the party president, H.D. Deve Gowda, and short-listed the names of four candidates. The party leaders from the six Assembly segments of Bidar district and two from Gulgarga district, which form the constituency, attended the meeting.

The president of the State unit of the Janata Dal (S), N. Thippanna, told The Hindu that the name of the candidate would be announced by Mr.Deve Gowda. However, the latter told a television channel that the party's Parliamentary Board would have the final say. Mr. Thippanna, who had announced some days ago about the party going it alone in the Bidar byelection, saw no contradiction in the decision taken today. To a specific question about the campaigning, he said that they would attack the BJP and not the Congress.

Mr. Dharam Singh told presspersons that though at first the idea was to field their own candidates, the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) were now exploring the possibility of putting up a common candidate. He had held talks with the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, during his latest visit to New Delhi. A final decision would be taken after talks between the two parties. He would be meeting Mr. Deve Gowda.

Mr. Suryawanshi, who is considered the Congress's best bet for the election, had lost to Ramachandra Veerappa by 23,621 votes in the April elections. Veerappa emerged victor polling 3,12,838 votes as against Mr. Suryawanshi's 2,89,217. The Janata Dal (S) candidate, a retired IPS officer, Motiram Chowdhary, came third securing 1,73,291 votes. Mr.Suryawanshi had been elected to the Lok Sabha from Bidar in 1980, 1984 and 1989.

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