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The threat of rebellion looms large over the ruling Congress even as the party is finalizing candidates for the May 12 Assembly polls.

On Saturday, senior leader P Ramesh was teary-eyed while announcing his decision to contest the polls from CV Raman Nagar constituency as a JD(S) candidate. He had been nursing the constituency and was hopeful of getting the ticket. "This is not Indira Gandhi’s Congress. There’s a Tughlaq’s rule, and Siddaramaiah himself is Tughlaq. He will be responsible for the Congress’ defeat," Ramesh told reporters.

Ramesh, who had unsuccessfully contested as the Congress candidate from CV Raman Nagar in the previous election, said Siddaramaiah had asked him to give up his candidature to make way for PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa. "I have helped nearly 16,000 people get jobs. I have done everything with my own money. But those taking decisions sitting in air-conditioned rooms are unaware of the ground realities. The situation is such that even Rahul Gandhi has to listen to whatever Siddaramaiah says."

It is now learnt that the JD(S) is trying to rope in another disgruntled Congress leader B Prasanna Kumar if he did not get the ticket to contest from Pulikeshi Nagar. The Congress is keen on fielding sitting MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, who recently jumped ship from the JD(S). Kumar had lost to Murthy in the previous election.

’Save Congress’ protest

Scores of block-level party workers from the Padmanabhanagar Assembly constituency staged a ’Save Congress’ protest outside the party’s headquarters on Saturday. Their grouse was that the party had finalized the Padmanabhanagar ticket to former legislator M Srinivas, who they claimed was ’a BJP agent’. They demanded that the ticket be given to B Gurappa Naidu. They also threatened to quit the party if Srinivas was given the ticket.

Similarly, supporters of former minister B Shivaram staged a protest against Hassan District In-charge Minister A Manju, demanding a ticket for Shivaram to contest from Belur segment.

Earlier, a section of Congress workers had threatened to rebel if Nallurhalli Nagesh was not given the ticket for the Mahadevapura constituency. The party has shortlisted A C Srinivasa as a probable candidate.