Sharief row exposes rift in Karnataka Cong

Former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief’s resignation, which he withdrew following a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last Sunday, only exposed the deep fissures in the party. Not only was his grandson denied a ticket, the list of minority candidates he had prepared in consultation with senior party leaders Rahman Khan and Sageer Ahmad and submitted to the party’s screening committee was also ignored, according to party sources.

To make it worse, the party gave a ticket to Sharief’s rival Roshan Baig for Shivajinagar constituency from where Sharief was planning to field his grandson. Baig had resigned from S M Krishna Cabinet in 2004 following the arrest of his brother Rehan Baig for his alleged involvement in Telgi stamp paper scam.

According to a section of Karnataka leaders, PCC chief Mallikarjun Kharge and CLP leader Dharam Singh called the shots in the selection of candidates by the screening committee and in the process, many top leaders were sidelined in ticket distribution exercise. The central election committee endorsed the screening committee’s decisions.

AICC general secretaries Margaret Alva and B K Hari Prasad were also left aggrieved as the screening committee took a decision not to give tickets to relatives of central leaders.