Karnataka polls: Jagadish Shettar figures in Congress' 4th list

The Congress party on Tuesday released its fourth list of 7 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections 2023. The party has fielded Jagadish Shettar, former Karnataka CM from Hubli-Dharwad-Central constituency.

After being denied a ticket by the BJP, Shettar had recently joined the Congress. Meanwhile, the BJP gave ticket to its state general secretary (organisation) Mahesh Tenginkai for the same seat. BJP's Arun Singh had said that Tenginkai is also a Lingayat like Shettar and belongs to the same subcaste as the former chief minister.

In another decision, the party fielded Mohammed Yousuf Savanur from the Shiggaon assembly seat, from where Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is the BJP candidate. Bommai represents the Shiggaon constituency in the outgoing assembly.

HD Thammaiah, another Lingayat leader was fielded from Chikkamagaluru. The Lingayat leader was said to be a close aide to BJP heavyweight leader and national general secretary CT Ravi. However, he stepped down from the party and joined the Congress party last month.

The Congress is yet to announce candidates for eight remaining seats. The party has so far announced its candidates for 216 out of 224 assembly constituencies in the state.

In its first list, the Grand Old party named 124 candidates, refielding 60 of 69 sitting MLAs. The second list had names of 42 candidates, including some who had jumped ship from the BJP and JD(S) ahead of the polls.

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly will go to polls on May 10, and counting will be held on May 13. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the southern state.