With one of the two rebels out of the fray in Shiggaon, the ruling Congress is hopeful of giving a tough fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the by-election on November 13.
On Monday, the nomination of Congress rebel Manjunath Kunnur was rejected on technical grounds. However, the other rebel, Sayed Azeempeer (Ajjampeer) Khadri, allegedly camping in Bengaluru under pressure from Minority Welfare Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, is in no mood to withdraw his nomination.
The two leaders – former MLA Khadri (Muslim) and Manjunath Kunnur (Panchamasali Lingayat) had filed their nomination as independents after the party picked Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan as its official candidate. While Kunnur was miffed at his son Raju Kunnur being denied the ticket, Khadri, a former MLA, was upset that the party retained the defeated candidate (Pathan) as its nominee.
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Congress leaders who tried to pacify Khadri, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, claimed the rebel had agreed to withdraw his nomination. But the supporters of Khadri claimed that their leader was being kept under "house arrest" by the Waqf minister and demanded that Khadri be released to fight the bypolls.
The Congress party was hoping to face a straight fight with the BJP candidate Bharat Bommai, son of former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, in a constituency dominated by Panchamasali Lingayat and Muslim voters. However, the revolt within the party is threatening to divide the votes.
Meanwhile, Pathan has alleged that Basavaraj Bommai is buying out the local "leaders" and dared the Haveri MP to stop the campaign and accompany him to Dharmasthala (a Hindu pilgrim centre) till polling. "Bommai is moneyed. Even if we both stop campaigning now, I am confident of winning the seat," said Pathan.
The Election Commission has accepted 19 nominations while rejecting seven in Shiggaon. However, the final count of eligible contestants could change considering the last date for withdrawing the nomination is October 30.
