After intense discussions for three days in New Delhi, the Congress on Sunday announced its candidates for 218 of the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from one seat only — Chamundeshwari in Mysuru. He is going to face a stiff challenge here from G.T. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (S). The JD(S) is making a determined bid to wrest the seat from the Congress.
Mr. Siddaramaiah’s request to contest from Badami in Bagalkot district was shot down by the party's central leadership on the grounds stating that it would send a wrong message to the electorate. The Chief Minister contested from the neighbouring Varuna in 2013.
State Congress president G. Parameshwara will contest from Koratagere in Tumakuru, while Chief Minister’s son Yathindra will contest from Varuna.
All seven ex-JD(S) MLAs, who joined the Congress last month, as well as MLAs from other parties who switched sides — Anand Singh, B. Nagendra, Ashok Kheny and B.R. Patil, Satish Sail, Mankala Subba Vaidya — have been given ticket.
Senior Congress leaders in the list include Ministers Kagodu Thimmappa, D.K. Shivakumar, Ramalinga Reddy, K.J. George, M.B. Patil, Roshan Baig, H.C. Mahadevappa, H.K. Patil, U.T. Khader, Umashree, B. Ramanath Rai, T.B. Jayachandra, R.V. Deshpande, K.R. Ramesh Kumar, H.M. Revanna, Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge; Speaker K.B. Koliwad; former Minister M.H. Ambareesh; and Congress working presidents Dinesh Gundu Rao and S.R. Patil.
Shantinagar pending
Curiously, the candidate for the Shantinagar constituency has not yet been announced. The constituency is now represented by N.A. Haris, whose son Mohammed Nalapad Haris was recently involved in a brawl at a cafe in Bengaluru.
