Sons of Kharge, Dharam Singh get Congress ticket

Sons of senior Congress leaders M Mallikarjuna Kharge and N Dharam Singh were given tickets to contest the May five assembly elections in Karnataka in the second list of 40 candidates announced by the party today.
However, Micro, Medium and Small Enterprise (MSME) Minister K H Muniyappa failed to get ticket for his daughter Roopa Shashidhar from Kolar Gold Fields constituency, where the party has now fielded Shankar V.
Priyank Kharge and Ajay Singh would contest from Chittapur and Jewargi, respectively. The party has also decided to give "B' form to independents D Sudhakar (Hiriyur) and P M Narendraswamy (Malavalli), ignoring protests by some local party leaders in those constituencies.

Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad would contest from Bellary city, while senior leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa would enter the fray from Davangere South. C S Putte Gowda, who recently crossed over to the Congress, has been given ticket to contest from Shravanabelagola, from where he had won in the 2008 elections on JDS symbol.
Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad's brother B K Shivaram, a former senior Police official, has been given ticket for Malleshwaram seat, while Tejaswini Gowda would contest from Bangalore South.
Chamrajpet seat in the city has been given to G A Bava, a former Police official and a close follower of Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily.

According to party sources, the latest list suggested that the party has given tickets to some of those who are believed to have cross-voted during elections to the Legislative Council from the Assembly last year.
The Congress had announced its first list of 177 candidates on April five. With another 40 names cleared today, the party now needs to name nominees in the remaining seven segments which, sources said, continued to be bone of contention among leaders.
Elections would be held for 224 Assembly seats. The last date for filing nominations is April 17.