Siddaramaiah says he wants to contest from 2 constituencies in Karnataka Assembly polls
'Yathindra will not be contesting from any constituency'
Bengaluru, Mar 25: Congress legislature party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he wants to contest from two seats in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, as the party fielded him from his home turf of Varuna in Mysuru district.
He said he wants to contest from Kolar too along with Varuna, if the party agrees.
The Congress earlier in the day announced its first list of 124 candidates for the polls, due by May, which included the announcement of Siddaramiah's candidacy from Varuna. This marks the return of the 75-year-old leader to his home constituency, which is currently represented by his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, after a gap of five years.
Siddaramaiah had earlier won twice from Varuna in 2008 and 2013, and even went on to become the Chief Minister after winning from there in 2013.
The Leader of Opposition in Karnataka had zeroed in on Varuna, after weighing on various options.
"I had said, it is left for the high command to decide (regarding the constituency). High Command has asked me to contest from Varuna. I have said, I will contest from two constituencies, from Kolar and here, again it is left to the high command," Siddaramaih said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, his son Yathindra will not be contesting from any constituency.
The Congress has not yet announced any candidate for the Kolar seat, and also Badami, which Siddaramaiah currently represents.
According to some party functionaries, Siddaramaiah, in the event of winning from both the seats, plans to vacate Varuna seat, and field Yathindra from there in the subsequent bypolls.
Siddaramaiah, who is nursing Chief Ministerial ambitions in the event party coming to power, and was looking for a "safe seat", had announced in January that he will be contesting the polls from the Kolar, reportedly after conducting surveys, subject to the approval of the party's Central leadership.
However, there were reports last week that Congress leadership including Rahul Gandhi, during the party's Central Election Committee meeting, had advised Siddaramaiah not to contest from Kolar, which is said to be "risky" for him.
Following this, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday told a large group of supporters from Kolar, who had gathered near his residence here, that the Congress high command had asked him not to take even 1 per cent risk' while choosing a constituency to contest the elections.
Siddaramaiah, who currently represents Badami segment of Bagalkote district in northern parts of the State, has repeatedly indicated that he may not contest from there, citing his inability to give more time for people and party workers of the constituency as the reason.
Siddaramaiah, who has announced that 2023 Assembly polls will be his last, has made it clear that he would not contest from his former Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru. As the then sitting Chief Minister, he lost the 2018 polls in Chamundeshwari to JD(S) G T Deve Gowda by 36,042 votes.
He, however, won Badami, the other constituency from where he had contested the 2018 polls, and defeated B Sriramulu (BJP) by 1,696 votes.
Making his debut in the Assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah had got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal Party ticket. He has won five times from this constituency and tasted defeat thrice.
After neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation, Siddaramaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Yatindra (MLA) in the 2018 Assembly polls and went back to his old constituency of Camundeshwari.
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IOA Impasse: Usha, EC members clash on CEO appointment; deadlock persists
New Delhi (PTI): Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha had another heated confrontation with the body's Executive Council on Thursday after a majority of its members reiterated their opposition to Raghuram Iyer's appointment as CEO but the embattled track-and-field great refused to back down and rejected their demand for his removal.
The main agenda of the meeting called by Usha was ratification of Iyer's appointment as CEO on January 5 but it ended in a deadlock. With both sides sticking to their earlier stands, the bitter feud is expected to worsen in the coming days.
"They want to re-initiate the whole process, they want to re-advertise afresh. It's like saying we don't want this person and let us start the process from the scratch," a furious Usha said after the meeting.
"This process (of appointment of CEO) took two years and now they want to start all over again. This is going to have repercussions (from the IOC). It can jeopardise India's chances of bidding for and hosting the 2036 Olympics," she warned.
"I am not going to accept this. I have told this to the IOC (International Olympic Committee). I am not a quitter, I am not going anywhere without cleaning the IOA," she asserted.
Interestingly, IOC Director Jerome Poivy joined the meeting online and watched the confrontation unfold.
Undeterred by Usha's warnings, 10 members of the EC, who attended the meeting in person, issued a statement, saying that they have decided to re-initiate the process of appointment of the CEO.
"The ratification of Mr lyer as the CEO was not approved. Further it was decided that process of the appointment of the CEO be re-initiated with new terms of reference," the statement said.
They stated that IOC representative called the entire fiasco "an internal matter of the IOA" and had "no specific views or interference" on the subject.
Before joining the IOA, Iyer had worked as EO of IPL sides Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. He had also held administrative roles in football's Indian Super League and Ultimate Table Tennis.
"The Members further, in the presence of the IOC Director, stated that the process for the advertisement of the CEO should be initiated at the earliest where it was anticipated that the appointment can be concluded in the next two months," the statement from the revolting EC members read..
Senior vice president Ajay H Patel, vice presidents RajLaxmi Deo and Gagan Narang, Treasurer Sahdev Yadav, Joint Secretary Alaknanda Ashok, other Executive Council members Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerjee, and Yogeshwar Dutt were present in person.
Joint Secretary Kalyan Chaubey and Executive Council member Harpal Singh joined online.
The members felt that while a "CEO is a must and should be appointed", but voted against the nomination of lyer for the position.
"...the agenda was to put to vote where the 10 physical members and 2 members who joined online expressed their dissent on the agenda and the vote was 12 against the ratification of the CEO."
"...the acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey, who is the Joint Secretary of the IOA, shall continue to discharge the duties as per the provisions laid out in the Constitution," the statement of the majority EC members said.
Usha, on her part, said that the EC members have gone back on their word as they had agreed to the appointment of the CEO in the January meeting.
"The EC meeting held in January was video-recorded. I asked each one of them whether they agree to the appointment of Iyer as the CEO or not. All of them said Iyer is good and everything about him is all right. Only his salary will have to be negotiated," she stated.
"I asked them what is the lower rate (limit) and what is the higher limit of his salary. That (salary) they did not mention.
"Then his (Iyer's) appointment was done and I communicated it to IOC and OCA and everybody accepted it."
The bone of contention is the Rs 20 lakh per month salary for Iyer, along with other perks.
Usha said she offered to renegotiate Iyer's salary in Thursday's meeting but the 12 EC members were adamant about starting the process afresh.
She said the latest development could jeopardise India's chances of bidding for the 2036 Olympics.
"Only after the appointment (of the CEO) was done, the Future Host Commission agreed to have a dialogue with us, otherwise they would not agree to it. The CEO will have to lead the negotiations, we have to show professionalism, otherwise how would we got to present our bid?" she asked.
She said the IOC could have taken a drastic step even before the Paris Olympics but desisted from that.
"I was there, that is why IOC was waiting for two years. It (IOC action) could have happened before Paris Olympics but they waited.
"Iyer was in the Co-ordination Committee and not the IOA president, that was why we could compete under Indian flag and not under the IOC flag."
She said Iyer and her personal assistant Ajay Narang, whose appointment was "cancelled" by the majority EC members, have not got salary since their appointment.
