Kusuma Ravi, wife of deceased IAS officer DK Ravi whose death had sparked a controversy, joined the Karnataka Congress on Sunday. Kusuma Ravi is also being considered as the Congress’ candidate for the Rajarajeshwari Nagar bye-elections, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President DK Shivakumar told TNM.
Speaking to TNM, DK Shivakumar said that the party is seriously considering Kusuma Ravi as a candidate as she is educated, and also someone the party views as a candidate who can connect to the “younger crowd”.
“Kusuma Ravi is educated. As a candidate, there are various challenges she will face but the party is of the consensus that she is a suitable candidate. We have suggested her name to the high command and they will decide,” DK Shivakumar added.
DK Shivakumar said that the party wants to field a woman candidate as she would be able gather the support of the women voters in the constituency. “There is a generation gap among voters these days. We are looking to field young and educated candidates. The BJP has its own caste calculations and we do too. Besides, Kusuma comes from a political family. Her father wanted the ticket but we had denied him the ticket,” Shivakumar added.
Kusuma’s father is a former council member from the RR Nagar zone and also the former Chairman of the Mysuru Planning Committee. “She also is a Vokkaliga and considering that DK Shivakumar is from the Vokkaliga community, they want to capitalise on those votes in RR Nagar as the BJP would not field a Vokkaliga candidate,” a senior Congress leader said.
DK Ravi, Kusuma’s late husband, was found dead at his residence in March 2015. DK Ravi had earned a reputation of being an honest officer, known for going after land encroachers. Several Congress leaders including former Kolar MP KH Muniyappa, former Bangarapete MLA Narayanaswamy and the then Kolar MLA Varthur Prakash were accused of harassing DK Ravi. His death has resulted in bandhs in Kolar and several parts of the state, where the ruling Congress government was accused of “trying to protect” it partymen, who were allegedly harassing Ravi.
After much outrage, the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ordered a CBI probe into the matter. In November 2016, the CBI had in its closure report, noted that DK Ravi had ended his own life.
Congress sources said that former RR Nagar MLA Munirathna Naidu, who is a powerful figure in the constituency, is likely to rejoin the party if the BJP does not field him as the candidate for the bye-polls. Munirathna was one among the 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs who had resigned from the coalition government and later defected to the BJP. Munirathna is also accused in a voter ID scam in 2018.
Elections were postponed in RR Nagar after large scale seizures of voter ID cards ahead of the polling from an apartment in the area. Police are probing the incident and named Munirathna as the 14th accused in the case. The Election Commission had announced that the 9,700 odd seized voter IDs have been returned to the respective owners.
Sources in the BJP said that Munirathna is unlikely to be given a ticket to contest polls and he is currently in talks with Congress leaders to rejoin the party. “DK Shivakumar does not want to give the ticket to Munirathna even if he rejoins as he defected when it suited him. He wants to build loyalists and fielding Kusuma is strategic for him,” the leader added.