Bengaluru: Kusuma joins Congress; likely to be party candidate for Rajarajeshwari Nagar by-polls

Bengaluru: Kusuma Ravi, wife of late Karnataka IAS officer DK Ravi, finally joined the Karnataka Congress on Sunday in the presence of Congress State chief D K Shiva Kumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara. Speculations are rife that Kusuma Ravi is being considered as the Congress' candidate for the Rajarajeshwari Nagar by-elections.

The R R Nagar seat fell vacant following the disqualification of N Munirathna, who was then Congress legislator, under the anti-defection law. He is now with the BJP and is looking for a ticket from the saffron party for the by-polls. R R Nagar, along with Sira Assembly constituency in Tumkur, will go for the by-polls on November 3.

Speaking to the media, D K Shivkumar said, "The party wants to field a woman candidate as she would be able to gather the support of 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".

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" its party men, who were allegedly harassing Ravi.

After receiving much opposition on the IAS officer's death, the then CM Siddaramaiah had ordered a CBI probe into the matter in November 2016. Later the report was closed, noting that DK Ravi had ended his own life. Kusuma's father is also a former council member from the RR Nagar zone and also the former Chairman of the Mysuru Planning Committee.