The suspense surrounding Shantinagar MLA NA Haris’ nomination is finally over. The Congress party has decided to give the two-time MLA a ticket to contest, sources in the party confirmed. They added that his candidature would be officially announced on Thursday.
On Monday, when the Congress released its list of 218 candidates, the party had not revealed its nominee for Shantinagar, fearing a potential fallout.
MLA NA Haris is in the eye of the storm after his son Mohammed Haris Nalapad was accused of brutally assaulting a man, Vidvat Loganathan, in an upscale eatery in Bengaluru ini February.
Vidvat had been hospitalised for two weeks considering the seriousness of his injuries.
With all the negativity surrounding the Haris family, the Congress decided to scout for other eligible leaders for the Shantinagar seat.
“Internal surveys commissioned after the assault still showed favourable results for Haris. He is popular and his constituents like him. Before pointing fingers at us, the Bharatiya Janata Party should look at their candidates. Their chief ministerial candidate is a man who had gone to jail. That says a lot about the BJP. They also have nominated leaders who have criminal cases filed against them. In this case, Haris is not the one who committed a crime, his son did,” a Congress source said.
Haris is said to have threatened to quit the Congress when his name was not announced in the first list. However, senior leaders in the Karnataka unit of the party are said to have asked him to hold on for a few days before they could announce his nomination.
Mohammad Nalapad was expelled from his post as the General Secretary of Bengaluru unit of the Youth Congress on February 19. Despite multiple attempts to obtain bail, Nalapad’s lawyers have been unsuccessful. The Karnataka High Court too dismissed his bail application and the state government filed a caveat in the Supreme Court opposing his bail. On Monday, the First ACMM court extended Nalapad’s judicial custody till April 30.