Mallya was the cynosure

bangalore: high profile industrialist vijay mallya was the star attraction in vidhana soudha on thursday. when he turned up at 1.20 pm after speculation whether he would jump into the election fray or not, even congress workers couldn't help being impressed. dressed in a cream safari suit, wearing dark glasses, he strode in accompanied by liquor baron adikeshavulu, jd(u) leaders and bjp's two suspended legislators. mallya was the last candidate to file his nomination papers. he visited the rajarajeswari temple on mysore road before coming to vidhana soudha. there was a virtual stampede in legislative assembly secretary and returning officer yakub shariff's room. chaos prevailed when the congress candidates arrived with their state president allum veerabhadrappa. the largest following was for b. janardhana poojary who was jostled around. waiting for the congress candidates to arrive, party workers who were making small talk geared up for action when the door opened. the workers surged towards the returning officer's table only to realise it was their ertswhile colleague d.k. taradevi. immediately they stepped back and some were heard saying that they hoped the televison camera had not caught them. bangalore city corporation former mayor and congress nominee prema cariappa was seen searching for the congress legislature party room in vidhana soudha on her arrival. mlas who have proposed mallya's candidature are: (first set) k.b. mallikarjuna, hampana gouda badarli, k.h. srinivas gowda, s.c. malagi, b.n. bache gowda, b. somashekar, h.s. mahadev prasad, c. byre gowda, p.g.r. sindhia and a.b. patil. (second set) k.b. mallikarjuna, k.h. srinivas gowda, hamapana gouda badarli, s.c. malagi, b.n. bache gowda, b. somashekar, a.b. patil, h.s. mahadev prasad, a. manju, n.l. bharathi shankar, chowda reddy, p.g.r. sindhia, n.sampangi, c. byre gowda and m.h. shivashankar reddy.