The Congress on Saturday announced its third list of 43 candidates for the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, but turned rejected senior leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's request to contest from the second seat Kolar.
Siddharamaiah was seeking to contest from the Kolar assembly seat as the second constituency. The party has already fielded him from Varuna constituency, earlier represented by his son. The party instead fielded Kothur G Manjunath from the seat.
Interestingly, senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who joined the Congress on Friday, got the ticket from Athani in Belagavi district. Savadi announced his decision to resign from the primary membership of the BJP after being denied a ticket to contest in the May 10 Assembly elections.
A Lingayat leader in Belagavi district, Savadi also resigned from the Legislative Council before heading to the office of the Congress. The party also fielded former Governor Margaret Alva's son Nivedit Alva from the Kumta assembly seat.
The Congress has so far fielded candidates in 209 seats, including 124 seats in the first list and another 42 seats in the second list, and is yet to announce the seats of 15 more candidates.
Besides Savadi, another turncoat - senior JD(S) leader K M Shivalinge Gowda, who joined the Congress recently - has been fielded from Arsikere. Similarly, former minister Revu Naik Belamagi, who had quit the BJP and joined Congress in 2022, has been fielded from Gulbarga Rural, while former JD(S) MLA N H Konareddy, who joined the party in 2021, is a candidate from Navalgund.
The Congress has announced tickets to at least 16 fresh faces in the third list. They include former Union Minister and Opposition nominee for the Vice President polls Margaret Alva's son Nivedit Alva, and former state Minister Motamma's daughter Nayana Jyothi Jhawar.
The party on March 25 announced the first list of 124 candidates, and second list for 42 constituencies (including in Melukote where it's backing a candidate of a different party) on April 6. With the third list of 43 candidates, the party has so far announced the nominees for 209 out of total 224 seats.