Bengaluru (PTI): AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law and the children of five ministers figure in the second list of 17 candidates in Karnataka announced by the Congress on Thursday for the Lok Sabha elections.

Satish Jarkiholi's daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi (Chikkodi), Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy (Bangalore South), Shivanand Patil's daughter Samyukta S Patil (Bagalkot), Laxmi Hebbalkar's son Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar (Belgaum) and Eshwar Khandre's son Sagar Khandre (Bidar) will be contesting in the polls.

Mansoor Ali Khan, son of former Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha K Rahman Khan and Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of Minister S S Mallikarjun and daughter-in-law of veteran party leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, are the party's nominees from Bangalore Central and Davangere, respectively.

ALSO READ: Kharge makes way for son-in-law on home turf, unlikely to contest LS polls 

In Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani will be in the fray. Kharge had won the seat in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections but lost in 2019.

Prof M V Rajeev Gowda, the Vice-Chairman of Karnataka State Policy and Planning Commission, will contest from Bangalore North.

The other candidates who figure in the second list are M Laxman (Mysore), Vinod Asooti (Dharwad), G Kumar Naik (Raichur), Padmaraj (Dakshina Kannada), Jayaprakash Hegde (Udupi-Chikmagalur), K Rajashekar Basavaraj Hitnal (Koppal), Anjali Nimbalkar (Uttara Kannada), and B N Chandrappa (Chitradurga).

The Congress released its first list of seven candidates in Karnataka on March 8.

The BJP swept the 2019 general elections in Karnataka, winning 25 out of the 28 seats in the state, while an independent candidate backed by the party also won. The Congress and JD(S), which fought the elections together, secured just one seat each.

The BJP announced candidates for 20 seats in the state last week.

Polling will be held in two phases in Karnataka on April 26 and May 7.

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Bengaluru: Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has alleged involvement of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in a money transfer network at global level.

Posting his allegation on his personal ‘X’ account on Saturday morning, Kharge said that he was referring to an issue that had not been dealt with decisively by Indian media houses.

“Here is a crucial story that the Indian media will never touch,” the minister has said, and clarified, “This so-called “body of individuals” has built a global network of over 2,500 affiliated organisations. Through these fronts, the RSS collects “guru dakshina” to fuel its divisive agenda. (sic)”

Kharge has further alleged, “The world’s largest NGO is running amok, laundering money and evading accountability.”

The minister added, “Here is a map of their organisational architecture of their “Vichar Parivaar.” https://rssproject.caravanmagazine.in / @thecaravanindia”