The Congress has announced a list of 40 star campaigners for the byelections to 15 Legislative Assembly constituencies.
The name of the party’s lone Lok Sabha member from the State, D.K. Suresh (Bengaluru Rural), is missing in the list. The name of Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariparad, who contested the Lok Sabha polls from Bengaluru South and lost, also does not figure in the list.
The list has names of leaders such as Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre, former Union Ministers M. Mallikarjun Kharge, H.K. Muniyappa, and M. Veerappa Moily, and many former State Ministers, including D.K. Shivakumar. The list also has names of two film actors and former Ministers Jaimala and Umashree.
AICC general secretary in charge of Karnatka K.C. Venugopal released the list.
Meanwhile, on ground, only a few star campaigners have been campaigning for the party candidates under the leadership of Mr. Siddaramaiah. While the former Minister Tanveer Sait has been recuperating in a hospital in Mysuru following an attack on him, Mr. Kharge has been busy holding meetings with leaders of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena, exploring the possibilities of government formation in Maharashtra.
With less than two weeks to go before the campaign ends, sources said many more would join the campaign by this month-end.
