Congress veterans play safe, stay out of second Lok Sabha candidate list, for states dominated by BJP

The Congress Tuesday came out with its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding sitting MPs Gaurav Gogoi and Pradyut Bordoloi in Assam, and Nakul Nath from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, while denying renomination to its Barpeta, Assam, MP Abdul Khaleque.

The list covered states where the BJP won overwhelmingly in 2019, including Assam (9 out of 14 seats), Madhya Pradesh (28 out of 29), Rajasthan (all 25), Gujarat (all 26), Uttarakhand (all 5) and the Union territory of Daman & Diu (1 of 1).

Khaleque became only the second sitting Congress MP to be denied renomination, after T N Prathapan from Kerala in the first list. Khaleque was seeking a ticket from the Dhubri seat, but the party fielded Samaguri MLA Rakibul Hussain from there.