Bengaluru, April 6 (fN Agency) Suspense over former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah getting second ticket from Kolar persists even after Congress released its second list of 42 candidates for Karnataka assembly elections in New Delhi on Thursday. Earlier, the Congress had released its first list of 124 candidates which included names of Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar from Kanakapura and former Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara from Koratagere (SC) seats. Former ministers KH Muniyappa and Priyank Kharge have been fielded from Devanahalli and Chitapur (SC), respectively. Priyank is the son of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge.As of now the party has fielded 166 candidates to contest the May 10 election in the state. There are 224 assembly constituencies in the state.The Congress has already fielded Siddaramaiah from Varuna, however, he has expressed his desire to contest from Kolar. Vinay Kulkarni has been given ticket from Dharwad Rural, thus putting an end to media reports of him taking on Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from Shiggaon. Kulkarni’s supporters however were not keen on their leader contesting from Shiggaon. Santosh Lad, a close aide of Siddaramaiah, has been fielded from Kalaghatagi in Dharwad district. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were at odds over the candidate for Kalaghatagi seat.
While Siddaramaiah supported former MLA Santosh Lad, Sivakumar backed Nagaraj Chabbi. Lad had represented the constituency twice before losing in 2018.Former minister BB Chimmanakatti has been fielded from Badami, from where Siddaramaiah contested and won against BJP’s B Sriramulu in the 2018 assembly election.In a way, Chimmanakatti has succeeded in convincing the party high command to give him a ticket he had expressed his ire over party leaders from other districts being fielded from Badami, and reportedly informed the party that Siddaramaiah ought to contest from his home district Mysuru.Baburao Chinchnsur, who did a ghar wapsi to Congress from BJP, has been fielded from Gurmitkal constituency.Chinchansur had been a Congressman till 2018 and served as a minister in the Siddaramaiah government from 2013 to 2016. After his defeat in the 2018 assembly election, he joined the BJP and played a key role in defeating AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge at the hands of BJP candidate Umesh Jadhav. Despite scores of Congress workers protesting against him, BJP turncoat NY Gopalakrishna has been fielded from Molkalamuru constituency. Party workers had gheraoed the KPCC Office, demanding the Molkalmuru ticket to Yogesh Babu, instead of Gopalakrishna. Expelled JDS legislator SR Srinivas has been fielded from Gubbi constituency. He has been a four-time MLA from the constituency. Surprisingly YSV Datta, who quit JDS, has not gotten a ticket from Kadur. He is a former Kadur MLA and was a close aide of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
MB Patil and Dinesh Gundurao have been given tickets from Babaleswar and Gandhinagar constituencies, respectively. Iqbal Ansari who endorsed senior party leader Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister candidate has been given a ticket from Gangavathi seat. Other prominent names in the list include former ministers HY Meti from Bagalkot constituency, H Anjaneya from Holalkere, and Kimmane Rathnakar from Thirthahalli. Late Chief Minister Dharam Singh’s son Vijay Dharam Singh, a former MLC, has been fielded from Basavakalyan constituency. His brother Dr Ajay Dharam Singh was on the first list as the candidate from Jewargi, which he currently represents.Assembly elections in Karnataka are slated to be held on May 10 and the counting of votes will be done on May 13. While the Congress is hoping to oust the BJP from power in the state, the ruling party is seeking another term.