K'taka polls: Cong struggling to finalise second list, to meet again on April 5

Congress is struggling to finalise its candidates for the remaining 100 Assembly seats in Karnataka due to differences of opinion among top leaders in several constituencies on finding the right person.

With multiple aspirants lobbying for each constituency, the party leadership on Tuesday, after holding day long deliberations, decided to have more discussion on Wednesday.

The Central Election Committee headed by Congress National president Mallikarjuna Kharge and attended by leaders including Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday met at Congress headquarter for more than four hours. Though the Committee was able to finalise candidates for around 40 seats where the leaders were able to zero in a single name. However, for the remaining 60 seats, they failed to decide on a single name, sources in the Congress said.

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Subsequently, in the Central Election Committee meeting, it was decided that the State Screening Committee headed by Congress senior leader Mohan Prakash hold another round of deliberations with state leaders. Following which, the Screening Committee met at 7, at the Rakabganj Road office, which is also called Congress ‘war room’. Despite the leaders holding meetings for more than four hours, sources said that the meeting remained inconclusive as they failed to arrive at single candidates for many segments.

The screening committee decided to meet again on Wednesday morning and finalise the list and submit it to the Central Election Committee by afternoon. The Central Election Committee is likely to meet again on Wednesday evening and discuss it, sources said.

The party already announced candidates names for 124 seats out of 224 Assembly seats in the first list. If the party is able to finalise the candidates for remaining 100 seats on Wednesday, the second list will be announced by early next week, sources said.

There is also an opinion in the party to hold candidates' names for a few constituencies till the BJP and JD(S) announce their list. Some constituencies party candidates names may be announced last

Sources said that in several seats, both former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Pradesh Congress President D K Shivakumar have strong differences on fielding candidates. With both the leaders trying to push their followers as candidates, the screening committee failed to finalise the candidates on Tuesday, sources said.

The party leaders also have differences on inducting turncoats from JD(S) and BJP leaders including MLAs. “While a section of leaders wanted to give tickets to turn coats, some leaders cautioned giving tickets to newcomers at the cost of loyal leaders. Due to this, the party decided to hold one more deliberation on Wednesday,” said the leader.

Earlier in the day, Congress General Secretary (incharge Karnataka) Randeep Surjewala told media that the Central Election Committee approved candidates for some of the constituencies. Remaining will be finalised soon, he said.