A turf war within the ruling Congress in Karnataka boiled over with six party legislators threatening to resign as it became clear that a relative of food and civil supplies minister K.H. Muniyappa would be given the Kolar Lok Sabha ticket.

While Muniyappa pitched for his son-in-law K.G. Chikkapeddanna, former Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar and his followers suggested the name of C.M. Muniyappa, although former Rajya Sabha member L. Hanumanthaiah could be the compromise candidate. K.H. Muniyappa and Kumar have been engaged in a battle of supremacy in Kolar.

The contention of minister Muniyappa was that his son-in-law was the right candidate since he is a Dalit "Left". The rival group wanted a Dalit "Right" candidate considering their sizeable number in the constituency. The Dalit Left are usually the more downtrodden among the community while the Dalit Right are more educated and economically better off.

Education minister M.C. Sudhakar, Kolar MLA Kothur Manjunath, Malur MLA K.Y. Nanje Gowda, Bangarpet MLA S.N. Narayanaswamy, members of Legislative Council (MLCs) Naseer Ahmed, who is also one of the two political secretaries of the chief minister, and Anil Kumar have threatened to resign.

It took a last-minute manoeuvre by chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy and state party president D.K. Shivakumar to dissuade the two MLCs from submitting their resignation letters to the Chairman of the Upper House, Basavaraj Horatti.

They rushed urban development minister Byrathi Suresh to the Council Chairman’s office to pacify the MLCs.