R R Nagar candidate will be finalised based on proposal from committee: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Saturday said the candidate for the Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) by-poll will be decided based on the proposal from a committee constituted under the leadership of senior legislator Ramalinga Reddy.
"...I will not decide (on the candidate). We have constituted a committee under the leadership of Ramalinga Reddy.
They will hold discussions and give a proposal, after which I and our legislature party leader (Siddaramaiah) and senior leaders will discuss and decide," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters in Belagavi, he said leaders from the block unit, along with the district Congress and Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh (his brother), have held discussions with the committee.
Congress is looking to retain R R Nagar seat that fell vacant following the disqualification of N Munirathna, who was then the party MLA, under the anti-defection law last year.
He is now with the BJP and is looking for a ticket from the saffron party for the bypolls.
Shivakumar said about seven to eight aspirants are seeking tickets from the R R Nagar seat.
Asked about speculation within party circles that the party would field H Kusuma, the wife of late IAS officer D K Ravi from R R Nagar, he said some people, including a few senior leaders and a former Minister, had met him recently, proposed to induct her into the party and give a ticket.
"They (Kusuma's family) were earlier with our party. Her father had subsequently quit the party,..daughter (Kusuma) is a housewife and has gone through pain...Suggestions have come. I have not been able to discuss this," he added.
JD(S), which is also keen on the seat, has shortlisted three probables- party city unit chief R Prakash, RR Nagar President Bettaswamy Gowda, and a leader from the Jnananbharathi ward Krishnamurthy- as candidates and one of them will be named soon.
R R Nagar, along with the Sira assembly constituency in Tumakuru, will go for the bypolls on November 3.
The last date for the filing of nomination is October 16.
While Congress has finalized former Minister T B Jayachandra as its candidate from Sira, the BJP and JD(S) are yet to name their candidates.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
