Congress announces list of 40 candidates - Mangalore North ticket for Bava
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Apr 14: After days of dilly-dallying and haggling following the release of its first list of 177 candidates on April 5 in Delhi, the Congress party has managed to release its second list of 40 candidates on Sunday.
However, the release of the second list of 40 candidates was preceded by a series of meetings in Delhi with Congress high command and had to be delayed till the arrival of Congress president Sonia Gandhi from the US.
Even after the arrival of Sonia Gandhi from the US, the negotiations went on for two days and finally the party managed to finalise the names of 40 candidates.
The second list of 40 candidates announced in Delhi on Sunday involves changes in the names of candidates for 2 assembly constituencies – Badami and Lingsugur reserved constituency for Scheduled Castes. While former minister B B Chimmanakatti replaces Devaraj H Patil, who was named in the earlier list, the new candidate for Lingsugur is Durgappa Sangappa Hoolagere, who replaces Pamayya Murari.
Thus, the Congress party still has to name candidates for 9 out of the total of 224 assembly constituencies going to polls on May 5.
Union minister Mallikarjuna Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge has secured the ticket for Chittapur constituency while former chief minister Dharam Singh’s son Dr Ajay Singh has got the ticket for the Jewargi while AICC General Secretary B K Hariprasad’s brother B K Shivaram, former police officer, has got the ticket for Malleswaram constitutency. However, Union minister K H Muniyappa’s daughther Roopa Sashidhar, who was angling for the KGF seat, has not succeeded.
In the Congress second list, the Mangalore north seat goes to Mohiuddin Bava B A. But the party is yet to name the candidate for Kaup, where former minister Vasanth Salian and former MP Vinaya Kumar Sorake are hot contenders.
Former Congress MP Tejaswini Gowda, who had a running battle with senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, has succeeded in getting the ticket for Bangalore South assembly seat.
Independent MLA P M Narendraswamy, who had become minister in the BJP Government by extending support and recently quit to join Congress, has been given the ticket for the Malavalli reserve constituency while former JD(S) MLA C S Putte Gowda has been given the Shravanabelagola ticket.
The Bellary Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad, who had threatened to contest as a rebel and field candidates in Bellary district if his supporters were denied the party ticket in the Bellary district, has been given the party ticket for Bellary city while his brother Santhosh Lad has managed to get the ticket for contesting from his Kalghatagi constituency.
However, Hebbal constituency where former minister H M Revanna and senior Congress leader C K Jaffer Sharief’s grandson Rehaman Sharief are hot contenders has been left undecided. The Rajarajeshwari seat in city is also in similar position. The Bhadravathi assembly seat is another constituency left undecided as sitting MLA B K Sangamesh is facing a stiff challenge from C M Ibrahim. The Congress candidates for Belgaum south and Kudligi are also yet to be announced.
Mangalore North
Mangalore, Apr 14: After days of speculations and even open lobbying for the coveted ticket from Mangalore north, it is Mohiuddin Bava who beat the other contenders and won the race.
The Congress on Sunday April 14 released its second list of 40 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The Mangalore north seat had given the party much headache, as there were three aspirants for the ticket - Mohiuddin Bava, Kripa Alva and Vijay Kumar Shetty.
Bava and Shetty supporters had even gone to the extent of creating a scene at the Mangalore airport when AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes, who is instrumental in selecting the candidates, visited the city last week.
It may be mentioned here that Mohiuddin Bava had lost to BJP's Krishna Palemar in 2008 elections. He will be facing Palemar once again this time in the same constituency.
The party took time to decide on this particular constituency, as Sonia Gandhi had wished more female candidates to be included in the list, and hence Kripa Alva's name too emerged as a possible candidate. Though later Vijay Kumar Shetty's name was almost said to be finalized, the party eventually chose to give Bava another chance. There were also reports that his supporters had warned that Muslim votes may go against the party if he was not given the ticket.
The candidates for Kaup and Puttur are yet to be announced.