Shivamogga , KARNATAKA :

For the uninitiated, Bilkis Bano has no connection to Gujarat. She is a KPCC general secretary from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who once used to work closely with the Janata Parivar and has known Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from those days.

Bilkis Bano is KPCC general secretary from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga. Photo | X

Bengaluru :

With a certain Bilkis Bano figuring in the list of Congress nominees, the question on everyone’s mind is: Who on earth is she?

For the uninitiated, Bilkis Bano has no connection to Gujarat. She is a KPCC general secretary from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who once used to work closely with the Janata Parivar and has known Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from those days.

Sources said she is Siddaramaiah’s candidate while his’s son Yathindra, who sacrificed his Varuna seat for his father, is the high command nominee.

Other Siddaramaiah MLC nominees are minister NS Boseraju and K Govindraj. Vasanth Kumar and Basanagouda Badarli are AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s candidates while Ivan D’souza is said to be Krishna Byre Gowda’s man although he is said to be close to Siddaramaiah too.

It was a surprise that Deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s two nominees, Vijay Mulgund, who was also raided due to his closeness to the KPCC chief, and Vinay Karthik, who is an office bearer in the KPCC, did not make it to the final list.

The 10 Congress MLAs necessary for nomination of Bilkis Bano signed on her nomination and the proposer and seconders will be on Monday.

Sources said Bilkis Bano is respected as a loyal party worker. She is quite close to Bhadravathi MLA Sangamesh for whom she campaigned vigorously and personally led the canvassing in 2023. She has served formerly as the chairman of the Minorities Development Corporation during the previous tenure of Siddaramaiah as CM for about 18 months.

When TNIE tried to reach her on Sunday evening, all three of her numbers were either switched off or not reachable.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Karnataka / by Bansy Kalappa / June 03rd, 2024