Bangalore, Mar 19: Kapil Sibal, Azharuddin, Ajay Maken are in the third list of 58 Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha polls announced on Tuesday evening.
Cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin will contest from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan.
The list includes recently-appointed PCC presidents, Sachin Pilot (Ajmer) and Ashok Tanwar (Sirsa), Ajit Jogi from Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh. Suspended Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi was denied the Pune ticket, which was given to Youth Congress leader Vishwajeet Kadam. Congress is yet to name its Varanasi candidate, where Narendra Modi is the BJP candidate.
The party is also holding back the names of its candidates for likely seats in Gujarat, where Modi is expected to contest from a second seat. So far, the name of Ajay Rai, Congress sitting MLA from Varanasi, has been widely talked about as the possible party candidate against Modi. Rai's name has been forwarded by UPCC despite facing criminal cases. Another section wants to field a candidate who is credible. Former MP from Varanasi, Rajesh Mishra, too is pushing his case.
Congress MPs from Delhi-Ajay Maken, Kapil Sibal, Sandeep Dikshit, Jai Prakash Agarwal and Krishna Tirath-have been fielded from their respective sitting seats. The late Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh has been fielded in Satna. Rao Dharampal has been fielded against Rao Inderjeet and Yogendra Yadav in Gurgaon. Among candidates from Rajasthan are senior leader CP Joshi (Jaipur Rural), Jyoti Mirdha (Nagaur) and Chandresh Kumari (Jodhpur), while the party replaced its Muzaffarnagar candidate Suraj K Varma with Pankaj Aggarwal.
Prashanth Deshpande from Uttara Kannada
Putting an end to speculation, Congress on Tuesday has decided to field Prashanth Deshpande, son of Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande, from Uttara Kannada.
AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad and Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva 's son Nivedith Alva were making strong bids to get the party ticket for the constituency.
Prashanth will take on BJP 's sitting MP Ananthkumar Hegde and JD(S) nominee and former minister Shivanand Naik.
36-year-old Prashanth, who completed his postgraduation from Harvard Law School and BA from National Law school of India Unviersity (NLISU), Bangalore, is a KPCC member. He is also involved in various social activities in his home district and serves as the trustee of the V R Deshapande Memorial Trust which runs several non-profit institutions across the state.
Besides Prashanth, the Congress high command has also endorsed the result of the primary election held for Bangalore North constituency, in which former MP C Narayanaswamy emerged victorious.
With the announcement of these two names, the Congress, which released its third list on Tuesday, has so far cleared candidates for 26 constituencies. The party is yet to announce candidates for Haveri and Dharwad.
While D R Patil and Saleem Ahmed are vying for the Haveri seat, Manjunath Kunnur, I G Sanadi and Ajjampeer Khadri are locking horns for Dharwad.
“Though Alva and I were aspirants for the ticket we are good friends. I am sure he would support us and we will work as a team to garner good votes. The achievements of the UPA government and nine months of good governance by Siddaramaiah in the State would be the highlight of our campaign,” Prashanth said.
“Our party has given land rights to people living on forest lands. This has remained a pertinent issue in the district till date. So seeking votes for justice and social equality will be the motto of the Congress party. We are sure people will recognise our efforts in the constituency,” he said.
BJP fields VKS from Ghaziabad
BJP has decided to field ex-Army chief VK Singh from Ghaziabad, the seat represented by party president Rajnath Singh in the 15th Lok Sabha. BJP said in a statement that Rajnath Singh has finalised Singh's name on the basis of the recommendation sent by the UP election committee.
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