Alva: Rebellion?

New Delhi, Nov. 6: Congress veteran Margaret Alva today claimed in public that four party cartels sold 25 tickets each in the Karnataka polls last May, dropping a bombshell just ahead of elections in six states.

The 66-year-old general secretary — whose son Nivedith was denied a ticket — also accused the Congress, which she has been a part of since 1972, of double standards in giving tickets to relatives of members.

She said while the Congress had decreed that relatives of leaders wouldn’t get tickets in Karnataka barring “meritorious exceptions”, the criterion had been given a go-by in the impending polls in states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. As many as 24 such names, she added, figured on lists released so far.

Prithviraj Chavan, general secretary in charge of Karnataka, said “such behaviour” by a general secretary should be taken up by the party’s disciplinary action committee. “It is unfortunate.”

Sources, however, said it was unlikely party chief Sonia Gandhi would crack the whip immediately, given her personal links with Alva. At best, they added, Alva might be “advised” to recant her allegations.

Nivedith, a Youth Congress worker, had wanted to contest from Khanapur, Alva’s former parliamentary seat, or Sarvagyanagar in Bangalore.

Abdul Wahab, the grandson of another veteran, C.K. Jaffer Sharief, was also refused.

In contrast, sons of central ministers Arjun Singh and Sis Ram Ola have been cleared to contest from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, though Ola’s son lost the 2003 elections.

Ajit Jogi and his wife Renu will contest from Chhattisgarh. Renu’s brother, Ratnesh Solomon, has got a ticket from Madhya Pradesh, though he, too, was defeated in 2003.

“People who brought the guidelines to ban relatives from contesting in Karnataka are not following them,” Alva said. “Some of them are members of the central election committee. Were my son and Sharief’s grandson denied tickets because they are anti-nationals, terrorists and smugglers?”