Bengaluru: Hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the Karnataka Assembly elections yesterday, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural D.K. Suresh filed his papers from Kanakapura segment. Suresh is the brother of KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, who had earlier filed his nomination for the same seat on April 17.

 According to reports, Suresh filed his papers as a backup plan in case the nomination of Shivakumar gets rejected.

The 60-year-old Shivakumar has been elected from Kanakapura in 2008, 2013 and 2018 polls. The ruling BJP has fielded a senior minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R. Ashoka from the constituency to take on Shivakumar.

Suresh is the lone Congress MP from Karnataka. He had earlier said that he was not interested in joining state politics, amid speculations that he may be fielded from Ramanagara, against JD(S) leader and former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

 There had also been speculation that as a ‘retaliatory measure’ to the saffron party’s plan of fielding a strong candidate against Shivakumar in Kanakapura, his brother may be fielded from the Padmanabhanagar segment, the other seat from where Ashoka is seeking re-election..

It is not unusual for political parties to field a backup candidate who withdraws from the race after the main candidate’s papers are formally cleared by the Returning Officer.

 In his affidavit, Shivakumar has 19 criminal cases against him including 10 related to protests against the Government. There are four other tax evasion cases and two under the money laundering law. A bribery case is also pending against him. Two other cases were filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Lokayukta in connection with alleged disproportionate assets.

BROTHERS SPEAK

I’m a voter from Kanakapura, and I should be contesting from there. We are hearing about certain conspiracies, so as a precautionary measure I have filed my nomination. There are chances for anything to happen. BJP people have an eye fixed on D.K. Shivakumar. Every day cases are coming up, four to five days ago too we got a notice from the Income Tax department from Chennai, asking for personal appearance. We have said we will come after the election, and for now we will not be able to come as we have election responsibilities. —D.K. Suresh, Kanakapura Congress candidate

With power in their hands, what they (BJP) will do at what time, we are not sure. Why shouldn’t Suresh file (nomination)? We too have our calculations. BJP’s conspiracy … 5,000 people have downloaded my assets list (from affidavit). There is nothing in it, it’s a different matter. We have our own calculation; we are not ready to reveal our secrets. You will get to know day after tomorrow. We too know how to do politics. —D.K. Shivakumar, KPCC President