The Hindu : Tiff in Gulbarga unit setback for BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Tiff in Gulbarga unit setback for BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, MARCH 15. With hardly 35 days left for the elections to the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, the BJP is yet to decide on its candidate for the Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat.

The ongoing power struggle in the party, with the former President of the State unit, Basavaraj Patil Sedam, and his supporters on one side and the President of the State unit, H.N. Ananth Kumar, and the detractors of Mr. Sedam on the other, is having a telling impact on the morale of the party workers in the district.

The party has also not finalised its candidates for the Assembly constituencies, and leaders such as Mr. Sedam and the newly appointed President of the district unit, Shashil G. Namoshi, have been making contradictory statements on the selection of candidates for the Assembly constituencies.

According to sources close to Mr. Sedam, the party leaders had approved his candidature for the Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat and also asked him to start the process of selecting candidates for seven of the eight Assembly segments, except Shahabad, in the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency. However, this is disputed by sources close to Mr. Namoshi who claim that the party has not yet finalised the candidate for the Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat and that it will be done only after Wednesday's meeting of the party's State election committee.

The woes of the BJP in Gulbarga district started with the rumours that the party leadership was thinking of nominating B.G. Jawali, a former MP who quit the Congress and joined the BJP, for the Lok Sabha seat instead of Mr. Sedam. After a minor revolt in the party, the State leadership launched a damage-limiting exercise by inviting Mr. Sedam for a one-to-one meeting with Mr. Ananth Kumar to iron out the differences. Mr. Kumar was reported to have assured Mr. Sedam that there was no proposal to deny him the party nomination.

Even as the differences were being sorted out, Mr. Sedam demanded that Mr. Namoshi be replaced as the President of the district unit of the party with Shyamrao Pyati. A meeting was held in which a few taluk unit presidents of the party passed a resolution calling for Mr. Namoshi to be replaced and sent it to Mr. Kumar.

This move appears to have done more damage to Mr. Sedam, and the party leadership has taken a tough stand and told Mr. Sedam and his supporters that Mr. Namoshi would not be replaced.

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