Taking the by-elections to Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly Constituencies seriously, the Congress Party is pulling out all stops to ensure that it will retain both the seats. Elections for both the Constituencies will be held on April 9 and the State Congress has decided to deploy 15 Ministers in the two Constituencies to monitor election campaign and polling.

“We have taken the elections seriously and the names of the candidates for the two seats will be officially announced in two days,” said KPCC President Dr. G. Parameshwara. He was speaking to reporters in Bengaluru yesterday soon after he arrived from his foreign trip.  

“The BJP is dreaming of victory in Nanjangud and Gundlupet. We will ensure that it will remain a dream for the party. People of Karnataka have seen the BJP rule where their leaders have made jail trips in corruption cases. They will compare the BJP rule with the Congress rule and will decide,” he said.

Dr. Parameshwara, who also holds the Home portfolio, said there are 12 Zilla Panchayat seats in two poll-bound Constituencies and each Minister would be given charge of one seat. One Minister would be given overall charge of two Constituencies. He said that the outcome of by-elections would not have any impact on Congress government in the State.

Kalale Keshavamurthy, who contested the 2013 Assembly polls on a JD(S) ticket in Nanjangud Constituency, is the Congress candidate in this election and he will face former Minister and Dalit leader V. Sreenivasa Prasad of the BJP.

In Gundlupet, Congress is fielding Geetha Mahadevaprasad, wife of late H.S. Mahadevaprasad, who is hoping to ride on the sympathy wave. C.S. Niranjan Kumar of the BJP is pitted against her. He said that the KPCC has sent the list of candidates to Congress high command for its nod. “We had sent Observers to the respective Assembly segments two months ago to get feedback from party workers on the selection of candidates for these two seats. We have taken these elections seriously because of Opposition parties’ baseless allegations against Congress government,’’ Dr. Parameshwara said.

Answering a query on whether the KPCC got scared over the recent outcome of elections to five States, Dr. Parameshwara said Congress has been facing  elections for over 100 years and it has tasted success as well as defeats.

“We are not scared. Why should we? There is no need for us to get scared. We are prepared to face BJP’s challenge. There is a rumour about BJP National President Amit Shah canvassing for BJP candidates in the State. If it is true, you can judge who is scared of whom,’’ the KPCC President said.

“We never invited Congress President or VP to campaign for by-polls. There are sufficient number of Congress leaders in the State who can manage these by-elections,’’ he added.

Refusing to comment on former CM S.M. Krishna’s plan to campaign in Nanjangud and Gundlupet in support of BJP candidates, he said that he would comment on it only when Krishna begins campaigning in support of BJP candidates.