Parties doling out tickets for the upcoming Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike (BBMP) elections are having a tough time pleasing everyone.On Sunday, angry Congress workers attacked a private resort on Bannerghatta Road where the list of candidates for the March 28 elections was being finalised.
Members of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of Congress staged a protest outside the resort afterNSUI’s Bangalore unit president Prabhakar Reddy missed out on the list. The resort was mobbed by hundreds of Youth Congress workers.
“I have been nursing my ward for the last three years by distributing free rice for the poor every month. They have destroyed all my good work for the ward by giving the ticket to someone else. I cannot tolerate this,” said an angry Prabhakar Reddy who refused to budge from the spot till he was given the ticket. When the party did not release the final list, the NSUI workers, who had gathered at the resort, lost their cool and started pelting stones. They broke window panes and shouted slogans against their leaders. Some pushed a boulder at the resort’s closed gates damaging them. They also broke some flower pots.
Leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah and senior leaders BK Hariprasad and Umashree were gheraoed.Hariprasad’s efforts to pacify the angry protesters proved futile and Youth Congress general secretary Venkatesh Gowda resigned from his post on the spot.
Angry candidates vowed to contest as rebel candidates if they were denied tickets.
Faced with a serious crisis on hand, the party leaders decided not to announce the list.
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