If Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has his way, the Congress party will nominate only Kannadigas to the Rajya Sabha, even if it means denying seats to veteran Congress leaders and close friends of the Gandhi family.
While the party is hoping to nominate technocrat Sam Pitroda, former speaker Meira Kumar and AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, Siddaramaiah's stand might upset the party's political calculations.
During a meeting with AICC chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah reportedly told the party leadership that it would be difficult to nominate "outsiders" (non-Kannadigas) in an election year. Siddaramaiah, who has raked up the Kannada identity issue time and again—mooting a Kannada flag, making Kannada mandatory across all schools, and opposing "imposition of Hindi"—feels that nominating an "outsider" would work against the party, especially in an election year. However, the high command is yet to make its stand clear.
Meanwhile, pro-Kannada organisations too have been demanding that only a Kannadiga be sent to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
With the current strength in the 224-member assembly, the ruling Congress can easily elect two MPs, the opposition BJP can elect one, and the fourth seat will be fought for by both the Congress and the JDS, as they are banking on independents and rebel candidates.
The chief minister wants to settle for local representation and has plans to field one candidate each from the minority, dalit, and Lingayat communities, again with an eye on the polls.
Former Union minister K. Rahman Khan is lobbying for the fifth term, while state minister R. Roshan Baig is said to be the party's first choice. The aspirants for the remaining two seats are L. Hanumanthaiah (hailing from the dalit community), former speaker Shivaraj V. Patil, former state minister Rani Satish, former minister Shamanuru Shivashanakarappa and Kailash, son of former chief minister late Veerendra Patil.
According to sources, Siddaramaiah is keen on fielding his realtor friend P.R. Channa Reddy. This is not the first time that the people of Karnataka have opposed the nomination of non-Kannadigas.
Previously, there were online campaigns against the BJP nominating Nirmala Sitharaman and Venkaiah Naidu to the upper house of the Parliament. This time too there was an online campaign against BJP nominating businessman Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who has won twice as an independent.
The JDS has plans to field Mangalore-based industrialist B.M. Farookh.