Rahul Gandhi on 3-day Karnataka visit to kickstart poll campaign

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi embarked on a three-day visit to Karnataka attending a series of programmes starting from Sunday. The Congress leader will visit Belagavi, North Karnataka, and Kunigal, Tumakuru district, in view of upcoming assembly elections scheduled for May.

As per his itinerary, the leader will arrive at the Hubballi airport and go to Belagavi by road. The Wayanad MP will hold a meeting with the Congress leaders and workers regarding the preparations made for the 'Yuvakranti Samavesha' in Belagavi, which is scheduled on Monday afternoon.

He will later fly to Bengaluru the same evening and will have night halt in Bengaluru.

Gandhi will then travel to Kunigal on Tuesday where he will attend 'Praja Dhwani' event. After attending the event, he will return to Bengaluru.

Candidate announcement soon?

The Congress has set a target of winning at least 150 seats in the 224-member Assembly, to come to power in Karnataka, with a clear majority. While JD(S) has already announced the first list of 93 candidates for Assembly polls, BJP and Congress are yet to announce their list.

There is a tough competition among potential candidates between Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah supporters. Candidates from both camps are confident that they would get a ticket which has increased the problems of state leaders.

Gandhi has reportedly advised Siddaramaiah to contest from Varuna, his home turf. The former Karnataka CM, who was keen to contest from Kolar, has been advised to contest from his Varuna Constituency where he had emerged victorious on a few occasions.

"Your each minute and move is crucial and need by the party," the report claims the former party chief as telling Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah had won the Varuna seat in 2008 and 2013. However, he vacated the seat for his son Yathindra in 2018 and he contested from Badami constituency where he managed to win the seat by over 1500 votes against BJP's Sri Ramulu a toughly-contested battle.

The election date for the Karnataka assembly polls are yet to be announced and it is likely to be held before May 24.