Sachin Pilot’s name missing from Congress’ star campaigners list for Karnataka polls

The Congress on Wednesday released the list of star campaigners for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly election 2023. The list included the names of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, state chief DK Shivakumar, LoP Siddaramaiah, former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Shashi Tharoor and others to campaign for the party.

Also included in the list of 40 star campaigners for the upcoming election is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

The Congress' list of star campaigners has many stalwarts from Karnataka such as Jairam Ramesh, M Veerappa Moily, M B Patil, G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa and BK Hariprasad.

Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, D K Suresh, G C Chandrashekhar, Syed Naseer Hussain, Zameer Ahmed Khan, H M Revanna, Umashree, Revanth Reddy, Ramesh Chennithala, Srinivas B V, Raj Babbar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Divya Spandana, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rupa Shashidhar and Sadhukokila are also on the list.

However, the name of former Rajasthan deputy chief minister and party leader Sachin Pilot, who was on the list of star campaigners for the 2018 Karnataka polls, was dropped from the list.

It is believed that the name of a senior Congress leader was dropped from the list amid the ongoing infighting in Rajasthan Congress.

Last week Pilot staged a protest against his own government in the state. Pilot had alleged the Ashok Gehlot-led government failed to investigate corruption cases during the BJP regime in Rajasthan.

It must be noted that Pilot and Gehlot have been at odds since the government came to power in 2018.

The assembly polls will be held on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the southern state.