Congress candidates list for LS polls in Karnataka to be announced in 2-3 days: CM Siddaramaiah
Karwar/Hubballi(PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said Congress' list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state would be announced in two-three days and there is no "major controversy" with respect to their selection.
He said the nominees will be finalised based on the opinion of the party's local leaders.
"In two to three days Congress list may also get released. Tomorrow the central election committee is meeting. Karnataka candidates will also be finalised and announced in two to three days," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Karwar.
"There is no major controversy. This time we are deciding on the basis of the opinion given by district in-charge Ministers, observers, MLAs, defeated candidates, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members, block committee presidents and district presidents," the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President D K Shivakumar said in Hubballi the list would be finalised after Thursday's meeting in the national capital under the leadership of AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge.
The BJP had swept the 2019 general elections, bagging 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while an independent backed by the party had also emerged victorious.
The Congress and the JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, which were running a coalition government back then and fought the election together, had come a cropper winning just one seat each.
But the political scene has changed significantly since then; the Congress scored a thumping victory in the Assembly elections in May last year and now appears battle-ready, determined to put up a strong show in the Lok Sabha polls.
It is also a role reversal of sorts for JD(S) which joined the BJP-led NDA in September last year.
The party is currently engaged in talks with the BJP over seat-sharing arrangement for the polls and wants to prove that it's still a force to reckon with, particularly in South Karnataka.
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Maharashtra Cong chief Nana Patole scrapes through in Sakoli, wins by 208 votes
Mumbai, Nov 23: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole survived a scare from his nearest BJP rival in the Sakoli assembly constituency but managed to win the tight contest by a narrow margin of 208 votes.
Patole, the incumbent Congress MLA from Sakoli, polled 96,795 votes, while his challenger from BJP, Avinash Brahmankar, came tantalisingly close to bagging 96,587 votes.
Independent nominee Somadatta Karanjekar was a distant third, bagging 18,309 votes.
While Patole managed to save the face with the thin margin, the Congress unit led by him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi were routed by the BJP-led Mahayuti in the one-sided contest.
