Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge likely to skip Lok Sabha contest, may nominate son-in-law: Report

Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to skip the Lok Sabha contest this time as per the report by NDTV. Citing party veterans, the report said that the Congress chief needed to take care of bigger tasks without getting involved in his personal political campaigning.

The further cited sources and said Kharge's name was discussed for the Gulbarga constituency last week. However, the 81-year-old Rajya Sabha MP may now nominate his son-in-law Radhakrishnan Doddamani from the same seat.

Kharge has won twice from the Gulbarga constituency and lost in 2019. At present, he is the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Kharge has four more years in the Rajya Sabha.

Similarly in BJP, party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda is also not contesting in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress has released two lists of its candidates that will be contesting in the Lok Sabha election that are likely to take place in April-May this year.

In the first list, the party announced 39 candidates--16 are from Kerala, seven from Karnataka and six from Chhattisgarh, four from Telangana. Two from Meghalaya and one each from Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Lakshwadeep.

In its first list of 39 candidates announced by the party, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi's name figured as a candidate from Kerala's Wayanad again.

In the second list, the Congress party revealed the names of 40 more candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Among the setas that were discussed on Monday were 14 each from Rajasthan, Assam, and Gujarat, 16 from Madhya Pradesh, and five from Uttarakhand, besides one from the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.

For Rajasthan, about 10 candidates were finalised, including Rahul Kaswan, who quit the BJP to join the Congress on