Children, relatives and loyalists of Ministers and senior State Congress leaders figured prominently in the second list of 17 Lok Sabha poll candidates of Karnataka that was announced by the the party on Thursday.
The Congress’ Central Election Committee cleared ticket to children of five State Cabinet Ministers and they are: Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy (Bengaluru South), Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi (Chikkodi), Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrinal Hebbalkar (Belagavi), Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil’s daughter Samyukta (Bagalkot), and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre’s son Sagar Khandre (Bidar). None of the Ministers have entered the fray so far, and ticket has been given only to their children.
In Kalaburagi, which is All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge’s turf, his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani will be the candidate. Mr. Kharge lost to Umesh Jadhav of the BJP in 2019.
For Davangere, the Congress has decided to field veteran party leader and Veerashaiva-Lingayat strongman Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun. Her husband S.S. Mallikarjun is the Minister for Mines and Geology in the Siddaramaiah government.
Prof in contest
Former IIM-Bangalore professor M.V. Rajeev Gowda, who was earlier a Rajya Sabha member, got the Bengaluru North ticket. Mr. Gowda is the son of former Legislative Assembly Speaker M.V. Venkatappa. Currently, he is the Vice-Chairperson of the State Institute for the Transformation of Karnataka (SITK). He would contest against Union Minister for State Shobha Karandlaje of the BJP.
Ms. Sowmya Reddy would take on incumbent MP Tejaswi Surya (BJP) in Bengaluru South. The Congress has not won this seat since 1991. In Bengaluru Central, the Congress has given ticket to Mansoor Ali Khan, son of former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson K. Rahman Khan. He will be contesting against P.C. Mohan of the BJP.
In the prestigious Mysuru constituency, the party fielded its KPCC spokesperson M. Laxmana, who belongs to the Vokkaliga community. He would fight the electoral battle against scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.
In coastal belt
In the BJP bastion Dakshina Kannada, Padmaraj Ramaiah is the party’s candidate. Advocate by profession, he is also the treasurer of Shri Gokarnanatha temple in Mangaluru. He is contesting against Brijesh Chowta of the BJP. The Congress has not won this seat since 1991.
For Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, the party fielded former MP Jayaprakash Hegde, who belongs to the Bunt community. He recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress. Mr. Hegde would take on Kota Srinivas Poojary, who belongs to the Billava community.
Former bureaucrat
Former IAS officer G. Kumar Naik is the nominee in Raichur reserve constituency. He had worked as the Deputy Commissioner of Raichur district. In Dharwad, Vinod Asooti has been given ticket while former MLA Anjali Nimbalkar would enter the electoral fray from Uttara Kannada.
The Congress had earlier announced candidates for seven seats. The committee, headed by Mr. Kharge, is yet to finalise the candidates for Kolar, Chickballapura, Chamarajanagar and Ballari constituencies since many contenders are lobbying for ticket.
Tough lobbying
For the Kolar seat, Food Minister K.H. Muniyappa has insisted that ticket should be given to one of his family members while local leaders favoured former Rajya Sabha member L. Hanumanthaiah. In Chamarajanagar, there was tough competition for ticket between Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa’s son Sunil Bose and former MLA Nanjundaswamy.
For Chickballapur segment, youth leader Raksha Ramaiah and former Minister H.S. Shivashankar Reddy have been lobbying hard. In Ballari, former MP V.S. Ugrappa is keen to contest. Local leaders too have been lobbying for ticket.
In the byelection to Shorapur (ST) Assembly seat, the party announced the candidature of Raja Venugopal Naik.
