Rebel trouble continues to daunt BJP, Congress in Karnataka

The rebel trouble in Karnataka continues as nearly all of them refused to withdraw their nominations on Monday.

This has in fact posed a threat to the official candidates of both the BJP and Congress. The two parties had refused to issue tickets to many sitting MLAs, as a result of which they filed their nominations as independent candidates.

The BJP was unable to convince rebels in at least 14 constituencies. In the case of the Congress the problem was bigger as it has rebels fighting the polls in 18 seats.

The Congress would be keeping a close watch on the Pulakeshinagar constituency in Bengaluru as it failed to convince Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy from contesting as an independent.The BJP on the other hand is facing problems in Gandhinagar where its rebel candidate Krishnaiah Shetty was adamant on contesting as an independent. He said that he was still with the BJP, but would remain a rebel. "All the surveys were in my favour and despite this I was denied a ticket," he said.

Even in Puttur, all attempts by the BJP to convince Arun Kumar Puthila went in vain.

In the Chickpet constituency, the Congress failed to convince Yousuf Sharif to withdrawn his candidature as an independent. He is said to have received calls from senior Congress leaders, K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

While the Congress has failed on pacifying the rebels in seats such Mudhol. Tarikere and Saundatti, the BJP has been successful in telling some of its leaders to back out from the race in at least seven segments. These include the constituencies of Ramdurg, Shirahatti, Kunigal among others.

The Congress on the other managed to get rebels from the Kumta, Hubli-Dharwad Central among others to withdraw their nominations.

A source tells OneIndia that all parties would continue to make hectic efforts to get these rebels to stand back. While withdrawing the nominations is not an option as the last date is over, the parties would tell these leaders to play neutral or stop campaigning. The source however added that most of these rebels remain adamant and would go all out and campaign as they are terribly upset over not being given a ticket.