Jaffer Sharief threatens to quit Congress

Veteran Congressman and former Federal Minister C K Jaffer Sharief has reportedly threatened to resign from the Congress party in protest against the denial of party ticket to his grandson in the coming Assembly elections in Karnataka.

Speculation was rife in the Congress circles in the State that Jaffer Sharief, who is also the Chairman of the Congress party’s Manifesto Committee for the Assembly polls, was planning to join either Bahujan Samaj Party or the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Sharief’s aides told reporters in Bangalore on Friday that the former Federal Minister was upset with the party leadership for denying a ticket to his grandson from a constituency in Bangalore.

After his return from New Delhi soon after the party announced its first list of candidates for the ensuing polls, Sharief had convened a meeting of his supporters to discuss his future course of action. During the meeting Sharief had lashed out at the Congress leadership’s decision against fielding relatives of senior party leaders as its candidates.

Taking serious exception to the leadership’s decision to reject party tickets to relatives of senior leaders, Sharief had said that the Congress party must follow the yardstick across the country.

Apart from Jaffer Sharief, several senior Congress leaders in Karnataka had sought party tickets for their relatives. Senior leaders like Margaret Alva, R L Jalappa and B K Hariprasad had lobbied with the High Command for party tickets for their close ones, but in vain.