Karnataka: Gen-Next to give Congress a leg up

Bangalore: The Congress in Karnataka, which has been out of power for nearly a decade and has been making efforts to regain its past glory in the State, has decided to involve the children of its former chief ministers in the State to strengthen the rank and file of the party.

Children of six former chief ministers — Kailash Nath Patil (son of Veerendra Patil), Dinesh Gundu Rao (son of Gundu Rao), Dr Ajay Singh (son of Dharam Singh), Kumar Bangarappa (son of S Bangarappa), Mahima Patil (son of J H Patel) and Mamatha Nichani (daughter of Ramakrishna Hegde) — held a meeting at the Karnataka Pradesh Con-gress Committee (KPCC) office in Bangalore on Tuesday and decided to tour the State together to organise the party’s rank and file at the grass-root level.

Children of two other chief ministers – Harsha Moily (son of Veerappa Moily) and Chandra Prabha Urs (daugh-ter of Devaraj Urs) – were not at the meeting as they were out of the city, Congress sources said. Among the offspring, Dinesh Gundu Rao, son of R Gundu Rao, is an MLA in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, while four others lost in the 2008 Assembly elections. Kailash Nath Patil, son of late Veerendra Patil, did not contest the last Assembly elections.

The Congress has been out of power for nearly a decade now and has been making efforts to regain its past glory.

The meeting was held at the instance of KPCC presi-dent Dr G Parameshwar, sources said. Those who participated in Tuesday’s meeting have de-cided to work together tire-lessly and make all efforts to mobilise support for the party, which is crucial since elections are likely to be held soon, the sources added.

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