The revolt within the Congress continued for the second day in a row with several disgruntled aspirants staging a protest in front of the office of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office on Queens Road, Bengaluru.
The decision by the Congress to keep kith and kin of party men, Members of Parliament and MLCs away from the final list has not gone down too well with several members in the party.
On Monday over 50 aspirants staged protests outside the KPCC office demanding that they be given tickets. However, there were none to assure them as all senior leaders of the party are holed up in New Delhi and working out a stratergy in order to diffuse the crisis.
With this issue only getting hotter with each passing minute, the main line of argument is the denial of tickets for the kith and kin of senior party leaders.
C K Jaffer Sharrief, senior Congress leader who has sought a ticket for his grandson Rehman Sharrief, had been denied the same.
He had said in New Delhi that the rule regarding the kith and kin issue should be applicable at the national level too.
However, when contacted he said that he did not wish to speak on the subject and would do so later.
Congress leaders, according to sources in the party, are trying to work out an amicable solution with Sharief as they feel that angering him may shake the balance within the party.
Sharief is a very important person in the Congress for these elections in case the party has to capitalise on the Muslim votes in the state.
Most of the leaders whose sons or daughters have been denied tickets feel that the party was not fair while drawing out the first list of 84 candidates.
G S Anupama, daughter in law of Putteswamy Gowda, was given a ticket from the Holenarasipur constituency.
J Narasimha Swamy, son of former member of Parliament, R L Jalappa too was given a ticket from the Doddaballapur constituency.
Tanveer Sait, son of senior leader, Azeez Sait was also given a ticket to contest the elections.
Congress leaders justify these actions and say that both Narasimha Swamy and Tanveer Sait have been MLAs in the past.
Sait has even been a minister in the Dharam Singh government.
These two leaders form a winning combination and hence denying them tickets would have been wrong.
Regarding Anupama the argument is that she is a sure shot winner from the Holenarasipur constituency and hence, she was issued a ticket to contest the polls.
Meanwhile, several leaders in the Congress have decided to either contest the elections independently or even join either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Janata Dal-Secular.
While cine star Jaggesh resigned from the party, G S Made Gowda who had sought a ticket for his son Madhu Gowda has decided to join hands with the BJP.
Cine star and former Union minister Ambareesh has decided to defy the decision of the high command and contest the elections from Srirangapatana.
However, aspirants such as Nivedith Alva, son of Magaret Alva, have decided to adopt the wait and watch game.
Meanwhile, disgruntled Congress leaders continued to protest in various parts of the state after they had been denied tickets.
Flags of the Congress party were burnt and buses stoned in various areas in Tumkur.
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