The first list of the Congress party for the Assembly elections has two surprises for Gulbarga district. By not announcing the candidates for Chittapur (SC) and Jewargi constituencies in the first list, the party has kept the two front-ranking leaders Mallikarjuna Kharge and Dharam Singh on the tenterhooks.
It has all along been projected that the two constituencies have no disputes or claims whatsoever. Congress tickets for Priyank Kharge or his father Mallikarjuna Kharge from Chittapur and for DrAjay Singh, son of former chief minister Dharam Singh, from Jewargi were seen as a certainty.
Congress sources said the contestants from the two seats had been left unannounced though they will be ultimately offered to the two young leaders. This is because of the ticket claims made by veteran leader C K Jaffer Sharief for his grandson, union minister K H Muniyappa for his daughter and another union minister K Rehman Khan for his son.
Sharief’s son-in-law Mohammed Yaseen has already been given the ticket from Raichur and it is generally believed the high command is not in a mood to accommodate another kin of Sharief. The sources said the candidates for Chittapur and Jewargi will be cleared after the arrival of AICC president Sonia Gandhi from the United States.
However, the Congress’ failure to announce the candidates for the two constituencies has led to a number of speculations and apprehensions among the public and in political circles.
