Kolar, 4 April

As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, the differences among the top Congress leaders in Kolar seem to be worsening. The factions led by KH Muniyappa and former Legislative Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar showed up with party candidate KV Gowtham separately on Thursday to file a nomination, sending a message that all is not well with the party in the district.

Gowtham arrived at the returning officer's office to file his nomination once with a team including district in-charge Minister Byrathi Suresh and MC Sudhakar, and again with Muniyappa and his daughter Roopakala, who is KGF MLA.

Gowtham had earlier said that he would take leaders of both factions together and would win the elections.  He met Muniyappa and Ramesh on two separate occasions and sought their blessings. 

Gowtham later downplayed any difference among the leaders and said he filed two sets of nominations separately to accommodate all the top leaders.  He said he enjoys the support of all the Congress leaders in the Lok Sabha constituency.

Gowtham was chosen by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar as a ‘neutral’ candidate after a massive political drama erupted over Kolar Lok Sabha ticket, wherein at least 5 MLAs, including a sitting minister, and two MLCs threatened to resign from the party over reports that the Kolar ticket was being given to Muniyappa's family.          

On the other hand, BJP-JD(S) alliance put up a united show with  JD(S) M Mallesh Babu candidate arriving with leaders from both parties.