Want 'Next PM' Rahul Gandhi to contest from Karnataka: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Mar 15: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said the Karnataka Congress wants party president Rahul Gandhi to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls from the southern state.
Calling Gandhi the "next Prime Minister of India", the Congress Legislature Party leader recalled his grandmother Indira Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Karnataka in the past.
"Karnataka has always supported & encouraged @INCIndia leaders. It has been proved in case of Smt. Indira ji & Smt. Sonia ji.
We also want our next Prime Minister of India Shri. @RahulGandhi to contest from Karnataka & herald new developmental paradigm.
#RaGaFromKarnataka," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.
While Indira Gandhi had scripted her political comeback from Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka by winning the Lok Sabha bypolls in 1978, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi had contested and won from Ballari in 1999, trouncing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sushma Swaraj.
Interestingly, the Congress has ceded the Chikkamagaluru seat to its alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) this time, while Ballari remains with the grand old party.
Siddaramaiah's tweet has come amid reports about pressure within the Congress for Rahul Gandhi to contest from one of the seats in south India.
The Congress had, earlier this month, announced that the party chief would contest from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, both traditional strongholds of the party in Uttar Pradesh.
Karnataka has always supported & encouraged @INCIndia leaders. It has been proved in case of Smt. Indira ji & Smt. Sonia ji.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) March 15, 2019
We also want our next Prime Minister of India Shri. @RahulGandhi to contest from Karnataka & herald new developmental paradigm.#RaGaFromKarnataka
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Pawan Khera denied anticipatory bail in passport case: Cong stands up for senior member
New Delhi: The Congress party has stood by Pawan Khera, the Chairman of the party’s Media and Publicity Department, expressing confidence that regardless of hurdles like politics of threat and intimidation, justice would emerge victorious.
Khera was denied anticipatory bail by the Gauhati High Court on Friday in the case filed against him by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma for alleging that she possessed not only multiple passports but also undisclosed properties abroad.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said in a post in Hindi on his ‘X’ account, “The entire Indian National Congress stands in solidarity with Pawan Khera, the Chairman of its Media and Publicity Department. The process to challenge the Gauhati High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court is underway.” In the post, which he put up on Friday, Ramesh has added, “We are confident that justice will prevail over the politics of threats, intimidation, and harassment.”
Bhuyan Sarma has lodged also an FIR seeking legal action against Pawan Khera for his allegations that she possesses passports of three countries and owns a company in the US, which had invested Rs. 50,000 crores. She has filed criminal cases against the Congress leader at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
