DK Shivakumar defends Congress giving votes to children of 5 ministers

DK Shivakumar today defended Congress’ decision to provide voting rights to children of five ministers

Bangalore:

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar today defended Congress’ decision to issue tickets to the children of five ministers in the state in the second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as a sign that winning ability was their choice The key factor.

Reacting to criticisms of nepotism against the party, the state Congress chief claimed that the entire country’s political system has now changed and in all political parties family members or children of ministers or leaders are being fielded to contest elections.

“We are looking for new faces, we are looking for young people, we are looking for people who have a solid background and we want to win elections,” Shivakumar told reporters.

“All local leaders support them (children of ministers who are candidates), they have been working for the party, they are party office holders and they were elected,” he added.

The children of five ministers were among the 17 nominees announced by Congress on Thursday.

Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi (Chikkodi), Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy (Bengaluru South), Shivanand Patil’s daughter Samyukta S Patil (Bagalkot), Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar (Belgaum) and Eshwar Khandre’s son Sagar Khandre ( Bidar) will compete in the polls.

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