Karnataka polls: Congress' first list has a few surprises; stumps BJP, JD-S

On Saturday, the Congress state unit announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka, which are due to be held by May.

The list includes prominent leaders such as D K Shivakumar, the state unit President of Congress, and Siddaramaiah, the Legislature Party leader, both of whom are Chief Ministerial aspirants in the event of the party winning the elections.

The Congress is the first party to release its candidates’ list for the elections in Karnataka, stumping BJP and JD(S).

While Shivakumar is as usual contesting from Kanakapura, Siddaramaiah is returning to his home turf of Varuna in Mysuru district, which is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

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Yathindra’s name does not figure for any other segment in the first list of 124 candidates.

Siddaramaiah backtracks

Siddaramaiah, who currently represents Badami in Bagalkote district, had earlier announced that he would be contesting from Kolar, but backtracked after party leadership reportedly cautioned him regarding the “risks” fighting from there.

On Friday while confirming his candidacy from Varuna, the former CM had indicated about contesting from two seats, and the second seat has not been announced in the first list.

Candidates have not been announced for the two seats which Siddaramaiah seems to have set his eye on — Kolar and Badami.

The principal opposition party in the current Assembly, which is aiming to wrest power from the BJP, has announced candidates for 124 constituencies.

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Names are yet to be finalised for exactly 100 more seats. Karnataka has a total of 224 Assembly constituencies.

Cong targeting 150 seats

Congress has set a target of winning at least 150 seats in the 224-member Assembly. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce the poll schedule in the next few days.

The first list mostly contains the seats represented by sitting MLAs and the constituencies for which only one name was recommended by the state unit.

Interestingly, veteran Congress leader K H Muniyappa, the seven-time MP and former Union Minister, has returned to state politics, and has been fielded by the party from Devanahalli, while his daughter and sitting MLA from KGF Roopakala M has once again got the ticket from the segment.

The 91-year-old veteran leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa has once again got the ticket from Davanagere South, and so does his son, S S Mallikarjun from Davanagere North.

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Among senior party leaders who have got the tickets include G Parameshwara-Koratagere. R V Deshpande- Haliyal, H K Patil-Gadag, M B Batil (campaign committee chief) – Babaleswar, Priyank Kharge (AICC President Mallikarjun Kharges son)- Chitapur, K R Rameshkumar (former Speaker) -Srinivaspur, Eshwar Khandre (Working President)- Bhalki, Satish Laxmanrao Jarkiholi (Working President)- Yemkanmardi, K J George- Sarvagnanagar, Dinesh Gundu Rao-Gandhi Nagar.

Darshan Darshan Dhruvanarayana, son of Party working President Dhruvanaryana, who passed away recently, has got the ticket from Nanjangud, and senior leader H C Mahadevappa, who was a ticket aspirant for this seat, has been fielded from T Narasipur.

Iqbal Hussain H A has been fielded from Ramanagra to fight JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy’s son, actor-turned politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

Shivakumar had indicated about fielding his brother and Congress Bangalore Rural MP D K Suresh from the seat citing a message from the party leadership. However, Suresh had ruled out the possibility citing him being the lone Congress MP from the state and that he was not interested in state politics.

Puttanna and U B Bankar, who recently crossed over to the BJP, have been fielded from Rajajinagar and Hirekerur respectively.

Fight between two siblings, the sons of former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa, is expected once again in Sorab, with Congress fielding Madhu Bangarappa from the seat, while BJP is likely to field sitting MLA Kumar Bangarappa from the segment, which is the family bastion.

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Other father-son or daughter duo who have made it to the list are former Minister M. Krishnappa and son Priyakrishna from Vijaynagar and Govindraj Nagar segments respectively, and former Minister Ramalinga Reddy (Working President) and his daughter Sowmya R from BTM Layout and Jayanagar respectively.

Also former Minister Ramanatha Rai B from Bantval and his son Mithun M. Rai from Moodabidri.

8 Muslim candidates

There are eight Muslim candidates in the first list they are- U.T. Abdul Khader Ali Fareed (Mangalore), Tanveer Sait (Narasimharaja), N.A. Haris (Shanti Nagar), Rizwan Arshad (Shivajinagar), Rahim Khan (Bidar), Iqbal Hussain H A (Ramanagaram), B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Chamrajpet), and Kaneez Fatima (Gulbarga Uttar).

Six women have made it to the first list- Kaneez Fatima, Laxmi Ravindra Hebbalkar (Belgaum Rural), Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar (Khanapur), Roopakala M (KGF), Kusuma H (Rajarajeshwarinagar), Sowmya R (Jayanagar).

Interestingly in the first list, the Congress has not finalised any candidate from Channapatna from where former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is contesting, and Shiggaavi, from where Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is likely to be fielded by BJP.