Bengaluru: The caste always plays a key role in polls as some people belonging to the Madiwala community staged a protest in front of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office (KPCC) at Tarikeredemanding a ticket for Congress leader HM Gopikrishna from Chikkamagaluru's Tarikere constituency. One of the protesters also tried to die by suicide during the protest, but was stopped by the police.
This was because it has been widely perceived by the protesters that another aspirant, Srinivas is likely to get the ticket from that constituency. One of the supporters threatened to die by suicide on the spot if Gopikrishna was not given a ticket from that constituency. However, the police, who were present at the spot, brought the situation under control.
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Madiwala Sangh president Nanjappa said that former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah assured the Madiwala community that ticket will be given to someone from the Madiwala community from Tarikere. Nanjappa also added that the senior Congress leader had promised to give one Assembly ticket and another Parishad ticket to someone from the Madiwala community. Hence, they demanded a ticket for Gopikrishna.
Sources said that Gopikrishna supporters staged the dramatic protest at the KPCC office to draw the attention of Congress leaders, who would be addressing a joint press conference at the office on Monday. Speaking about ticket allocation, KPCC working president Salim Ahmed said that the grand old party has not finalised whom to give the ticket from the Tarikere constituency. The Central Election Committee (CEC) will hold a meeting on Tuesday during which they will come to a decision, Ahmed added. The Congress party has already announced its first list of 124 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. The state will vote in a single phase on May 10 and the counting of votes will be conducted on May 13.
