RaGa from Karnataka says Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Mar 16: 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 Rahul 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.
'I am scared of people who put long tikas with kumkum': Siddaramaiah
#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
the
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.