Hectic parleys in Congress, BJP for K’taka RS berths

FOR ELECTION TO THE RAJYA SABHA FROM KARNATAKA, A MEMBER WOULD REQUIRE 44 VOTES

:With four members of the Rajya Sabha retiring this month, the race to replace them has intensified in Karnataka. Potential candidates from both national parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress-- are lobbying their party leaderships for nominations to the Upper house.

Two Congress members – B K Hariprasad and Prof M V Rajeev Gowda -- are due to retire on June 25 along with the BJP’S Prabhakar Kore and D Kupendra Reddy of the Janata Dal (Secular) when their terms end.

Given the current composition in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, where the BJP has 117 MLAS, the Congress 68 , JDS 34 and independents three (two seats are vacant), the BJP can have two Rajya Sabha MPS elected and the Congress one – but with extra votes to spare -and the JDS, if it manages additional votes, one.

For election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, a member would require 44 votes. So the BJP can comfortably have two members elected, with votes to spare. Kore, an education baron, is keen for another term, but the BJP is unlikely to nominate him, given that he has already has served two consecutive terms.

Tejaswini, the wife of late former Union minister Ananth Kumar who narrowly missed out on the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat won by her husband for six consecutive terms, is considered to be a key contender.

Ramesh Katti, the brother of BJP’S eight-term MLA Umesh Katti, has publicly declared that chief minister BS Yediyurappa should keep his promise of sending him to the Upper house.

“I have urged the CM to fulfil his promise of (sending me to the RS) he made last year when I was denied the Chikkodi Lok Sabha ticket,” Katti told HT.

A lesser known name doing the rounds as a potential candidate is of Prof M Nagaraj, known as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(rss) ideologue from the northern Karnataka stronghold of the BJP. The BJP state-incharge Muralidhara Rao himself is seen as a contender for one of the Rajya Sabha seats. Industrialist and media baron Vijay Sankeshwar, a former three-term Lok Sabha member, is also seen to be in the running.

Two surprising names doing the rounds as potential BJP nominees are of Sudha Murthy –philanthropist and the wife of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy -- and KV Kamath, former chief of ICICI Bank.

A senior BJP leader who did not want to be identified told HT: “Ultimately it will be a call of the party high command in consultation with the chief minister...”.

For the lone seat the Congress can win, former leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge is seen as the frontrunner. The other names being mentioned are of former union ministers K H Muniyappa and Veerpa Moily. Muniyappa, a seven-term MP, told HT: “I am not an aspirant and would gladly support any choice made by the high command...” The Congress would have nearly 24 votes to spare and is likely to support JDS supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda if he decides to contest.

How do you look back at the 17 years you spent in prison?

Going to jail is one of the most difficult and scary things that can happen to anyone. I was a 23-year-old and going about my work and life one day. I suddenly woke up to the clanging sound of iron gates for a roll call at 5am. I found myself hauled up and paraded for a head count. The most difficult task of the day was probably using the toilets, since there are just five toilets for more than 500 inmates. A bucket of water was a luxury. You face a number of hardships in Tihar, but in time you learn to live with them. What is harder to get accustomed to is the isolation and a lack of knowledge of your family’s welfare.

The constant vigil that one has to maintain to protect oneself from the ruffians who rule the inside of the jails is mindnumbing...

However, in my latter years when I was more used to jail life, I tried to spend my time in more constructive ways. My first assignment was to tend to the gardens and that gave me a lot of peace and tranquillity. Thereafter, I was asked to work in the Tihar jail factory, and I can say today that my 10 years spent in the factory helped keep my sanity. I tried to keep myself immersed in the work so as to stay away from the negativity of the jail environment.

I also tried to read as much as possible and completed my degree in human rights and studied law as well.

In the last 21 years I have learned a lot of hard lessons and I hope and pray that they will help me as I strive for betterment in my life after prison.

How do you look back at that night and the events that followed?

I was a young 23-year-old boy. I never intended anyone any harm, and am very sorry for what happened. During this time, the toughest part by far was seeing my parents suffer. . I feel really sorry for what they had to go through for no fault of theirs. I am really thankful to God that this ordeal has come to an end after 21 long years.

What have you learnt from the mistake you made that night? To be grateful to God for the second chance that I have been given and to my family and friends for standing by me.

Jail officers credit you for some good initiatives in the prison’s factory that helped the jail earn profits and reach out to a larger audience. Your comments. When in jail, you are allotted work, and I was allotted to the jail factory. I tried to do the work assigned to me as diligently as possible.

I can proudly say we were able to take the turnover of the jail factory and increase it from Rs 1 crore to Rs 32 crore and were also able to give work and wages to more than 600 inmates from 70 earlier.

Now that you are a free man after 21 years, what are your