Congress likely to field Dinesh Gundu Rao’s wife from Shivajinagar

Bengaluru: Tabu Gundu Rao, wife of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Dinesh Gundu Rao, is likely to be the party’s candidate from the Shivajinagar Assembly Constituency for the upcoming by-polls.

According to Congress sources, party leaders of Shivajinagar have demanded to field Tabu from Shivajinagar Constituency and even Dinesh Gundu Rao has been putting all efforts to ensure that his wife contests. As per sources, senior Congress leader Siddharamaiah will approve Tabu’s candidature even if some leaders are against it.

While Tabu said she is reluctant to contest, the party feels she stands a good chance to win. Her name did the rounds during the recent Lok Sabha polls too. There were reports that the Congress wanted to field her to checkmate the BJP in Central Bengaluru against sitting MP P.C. Mohan. The party, which is yet to announce the second list of seven candidates, is likely to delay the announcement of candidate for Shivajinagar till the last moment, sources said.

As far as Shivajinagar Constituency is concerned, the Congress does not have any suitable candidate. Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Rizwan Arshad contested several times and got defeated as his name got involved in the I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) ponzi scam.

As there is a Tamil and Muslim population in Shivajinagar, the Congress is deciding to field Tabu as a candidate against BJP candidate Saravana. She herself gave some clues and shown some interest right after the resignation of R. Roshan Baig, the disqualified Congress leader, who was not inducted into the BJP reportedly due to the IMA Ponzi scam and allegations against him in RSS worker Rudresh murder case.

Tabu had tweeted about the leadership qualities and other things, which need to be carried to keep Congress leaders intact. According to reports, Baig is likely to fight the election from the Shivajinagar seat as an independent candidate after being denied tickets by the BJP. Sharavana’s name was announced by the BJP in its second list.