Four Independent legislators, who served as ministers in the Cabinet of Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, seem to be tilting towards the Congress ahead of 2012’s elections to the Legislative Assembly.
As the first step towards hoping on to a new terrain, the legislators called on veteran Congress leader and former external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and held a close
d-door meeting at his residence on Thursday. Though they described it as a courtesy call, the meeting stirred much interest in political circles as they were reported told to meet Mr Krishna by KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar. The four independents included Mr D. Sudhakar (Holalkere), Mr Narendra Swamy (Malavalli), Mr Venkatara-manappa (Pavagada) and Mr Shivaraj Tangadagi (Kanakagiri). Sources in Congress state unit said barring Mr Tangadagi, the others were aspirants for tickets. The other independent, Mr Goolihatti Shekhar (Hosa-durga), was also a ticket aspirant but could not make it to the meeting with Mr Krishna. The sources said all the five legislators approached Dr Parame-shwar for party tickets, but the KPCC president ruled out one for Mr Goolihatti Shekhar while assuring the others that they would be given nomination forms.