Congress fields Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, renominates D K Suresh from Bangalore RuralIn Karnataka, the Congress retained Deputy CM DK Shivkumar’s brother DK Suresh in Bangalore Rural. No names have been announced for the Kalburgi seat amid speculations that Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will contest from there. Kannada actor Shivarajkumar’s wife Geetha Shivarajkumar (Shimoga) also figures in the list of seven candidates in Karnataka.A three-time MP, Suresh is the brother of Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and the sitting MP from Bangalore Rural. He was the only Congress candidate to win in the 2019 general elections in the State.The other five candidates are: H R Algur (Bijapur), Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath (Haveri), SP Muddahanumegowda (Tumkur), Venkataramane Gowda (Mandya) and Shreyas M Patel (Hassan).The party naming Geetha Shivarajkumar for the Shivamogga seat seems to have set the stage for an interesting battle in the home district of BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa.Geetha, daughter of former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa, contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga (Shimoga) on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket and lost to Yediyurappa.The seat is currently held by Yediyurappa’s son, BY Raghavedra.Geetha, sister of Karnataka Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa and daughter-in- law of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar, joined the Congress in April last year ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka.Venkataramane Gowda, also known as Star Chandru, is a contractor by profession.The Mandya seat where he is contesting from is currently represented by Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP.The Congress had denied renomination to Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur in the 2019 elections to make way for Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate HD Deve Gowda who, however, lost the polls.Muddahanumegowda officially joined the BJP in 2022 but had kept a low profile. He returned to the Congress fold only last month and has now been named from the seat.”Congress has named candidates in segments where there was no confusion over the nominee,” a party leader said.The BJP-JD(S) combine is yet to come out with its list of candidates.
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