The Congress on Monday decided to field former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla against Chhatisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh from the Rajnandgaon Assembly seat.
Karuna was a BJP member of the 14 Lok Sabha from 2004-09 from Janjgir. She lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls to Charandas Mahant of the Congress. She quit the BJP in 2013 and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully from Bilaspur.
A trenchant critic of the BJP, Karuna had accused the ruling party of politicising the death of Vajpayee by taking processions of urns carrying his ashes throughout the country.
The Central Election Committee of the Congress also announced five other candidates for Chhatisgarh — Girwar Janghel from Khairagarh, Bhuneshwar Singh Baghel from Dongargarh-SC, Daleshwar Sahu from Dongargaon, Channi Sahu from Khujji and Indira Shah Mandavi from Mohla Manpur-ST.
The Congress has already announced candidates for 12 seats in Bastar. Tuesday, October 23, is the last day of filing nominations for the first phase.
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