BENGALURU: The
Congress
party in its first list on Friday announced the names of candidates for seven seats, of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka. Prior to the announcement, KPCC president and deputy chief minister
D K Shivakumar
had announced that the party had taken only 14 clear names to the high command for its clearance.
The seven names include the “usual” suspects including deputy chief minister and KPCC president D K Shivakumar’s brother and two time Bengaluru rural MP D K Suresh from the same segment, former Tumakur MP SP Muddahanumegowda and Geetha Shivarajkumar, who had contested unsuccessfully from
Shivamogga
in 2019.
However, the wife of Kannada cine star Shivarajkumar had contested the previous election on a JD(S) ticket with the support of the Congress.
This time, Geetha, who is also sister of current primary and secondary education minister Madhu Bangarappa and daughter of former chief minister S Bangarappa will be contesting on the Congress symbol with the full backing of the state government.
Meanwhile, Suresh will be contesting the elections for the third time from the same segment which saw him win by a massive margin in 2019. It is expected that Suresh will have a tough outing this time with both the BJP and JD(S) combining their strength to defeat him in the segment as it is a matter of prestige to defeat the brother of the Karnataka DCM.
From Tumakur, former district and sessions court judge Muddhanumegowda was a certainty after he returned to the Congress from the BJP three months ago.
Muddahanumegowda had won the 2014 elections on the Congress ticket before being denied a ticket in 2019 by the then Congress-JD(S) alliance which fielded former PM H D Deve Gowda from the seat who lost the elections. Muddhanumegowda is expected to face a new foe this time around as the sitting BJP MP G S Basavaraju has already declared his retirement from politics.
From Hassan, the party has announced the name of 31 year old youngster Shreyas M Patel who had contested the 2023 assembly elections from Holenarsipura against a formidable opponent in H D Revanna, son of JD(S) national president Deve Gowda.
In fact, Patel is likely to face Revanna’s son and sitting JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna if the BJP-JD(S) alliance does declare his name.
A surprise candidate which was announced on Friday by the party was Anandswamy Gaddadevramath, who is the son of former Shirahatti MLA GN Gaddadevaramath. A realtor, the 46 year old candidate is contesting from Haveri where the BJP have seen yet another retirement in its sitting MP Shivakumar Udasi.
The party had initially proposed fielding a Muslim candidate from the segment but decided against it to appeal to the larger Lingayat audience in the constituency.
From Mandya, the AICC cleared the name of Venkataramegowda also popularly known as Star Chandru, a businessman. The sitting independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh candidature from the BJP is still unclear.
Venkataramegowda is the brother of sitting independent MLA from Gauribidanur K H Puttaswamy Gowda. Puttaswamy Gowda is also the second richest MLA in the country with an asset of Rs 1,267 crore as per an ADR report and had extended his allegiance to the Congress soon after the elections.
Finally, from Bijapur seat which is reserved for the scheduled caste (SC), the party cleared the name of district Congress president and former Nagthan MLA H R Alagur who is also likely to face a new candidate considering the sitting BJP MP Ramesh Jigajinagi being hospitalised.
Meanwhile, the AICC has put on hold two names from the state-- Backward Classes Commission chairman and also former MP Jayaprakash Hegde, who is yet to join the Congress, and that of state Congress working president B N Chandrappa whose name has been finalised for SC reserved seat of Chitradurga.
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