The exercise held in Delhi for the selection of Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha has reached a logical stage and the candidates' names for 14 constituencies of the state have been finalized. Meanwhile, AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge has withdrawn from the Lok Sabha election contest and the state leaders are trying to convince him.
The party's Central Election Committee meeting was held in Delhi yesterday evening under the leadership of AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge. Among them, Sonia Gandhi, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal, and many leaders including CM Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar participated. Among the senior leaders, Sonia Gandhi has withdrawn from the Lok Sabha election contest. Similarly, Mallikarjuna Kharge has also refused to contest the elections. KPCC president D.K.Sivakumar, who is stationed in Delhi, visited the house of Mallikarjuna Kharge this morning and tried to convince him to contest the elections. But for that to disagree, Kharge, said that the Rajya Sabha's tenure is still 4 years.
After contesting the Lok Sabha elections, it is not possible to focus on traveling across the country. So he said, “I will not contest.” Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani in Kalaburagi constituency. On the other hand, as already discussed in the first round by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister K. Shivakumar, there were discussions yesterday to finalize the candidate for 14 constituencies. In the first phase, the ticket will be announced for the candidates who are likely to win and have the support of local leaders who are actively in touch with the people of the constituency. Sources said that another round of meetings will be held in Bengaluru regarding the selection of the remaining 14 constituencies.
DK Suresh for Bangalore Rural, Star Chandru for Mandya, SP Muddahanumegowda for Tumkur, Soumya Reddy for Bengaluru, Shreyas Patel for Hassan, Geeta Sivarajkumar for Shimoga, BN Chandrappa for Chitradurga, Vinayakumar Sorake for Dakshina Kannada, Rajasekhar Patil for Bidar, Mysore M. Laxman, Prabha Mallikarjun for Davangere, Anjali Nimbalwar for Uttara Kannada, Raju Alaguru for Vijayapur, Rajashekhar Hitnal for Koppal are likely to get tickets.