Congress to announce first list after second leg of Praja Dhwani Yatra in Karnataka
BENGALURU: The Congress in Karnataka that finished its first leg of the Praja Dhwani Bus Yatra in the runup to the Assembly polls is likely to announce its first list of candidates only after its second leg of the Yatra that concludes on February 9. The shortlist of candidates from the districts has already reached KPCC president D K Shivakumar.
But before starting the second leg, Shivakumar, CLP leader Siddaramaiah and the 36-member election committee, including AICC general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala and KC Venugopal, will hold deliberations on February 2 to finalise the tickets. It is likely that around 70 sitting MLAs and another 50 leaders who lost the 2018 Assembly polls are likely to get tickets.
The first list could feature around 120 candidates, sources said. “When the ruling party is playing it safe by confirming tickets to its sitting MLAs despite them facing anti-incumbency, the opposition Congress is not ready to drop sitting MLAs,” a Congress leader said.
The announcement for the remaining 124 Assembly seats will be done in a phased manner and the entire list will be out by February-end. Since the Election Commission is likely to issue the election notification in the first week of March, the tickets will be finalised swiftly, except for some critical constituencies where leaders from other parties are likely to join Congress at the last minute.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will have the final say in finalising the tickets. Apart from Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, senior leaders including former DCM Dr G Parameshwara, former ministers KJ George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, H Anjaneya, KH Muniyappa, KPCC working presidents Ramalinga Reddy, Dhruvanaryana and Saleem Ahmed will also have a say in the selection of candidates to an extent.