With final Karnataka list, Congress adds more kin of leaders, resolves Kolar dilemma

There was disappointment in store for former Union minister Veerappa Moily when the Congress announced three Lok Sabha poll candidates from Karnataka on Friday, with a fourth added on Saturday morning that completed the party’s list for all 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. While the veteran leader, also a former Chief Minister, lost out, the sons of two other senior leaders got the nod.

Among the names announced on Friday was former Youth Congress leader Raksha Ramaiah, who has been chosen for the Chikkaballapur seat in south Karnataka over Moily. Chikkaballapur is considered to be a battle of candidates with deep pockets. Ramaiah, a young Turk, is the son of former MLA M R Seetharam and hails from the M S Ramaiah family that runs major educational and health institutions in the state. The BJP has fielded former Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar.

A second young candidate in the Congress list is Sunil Bose, the son of state social welfare minister H C Mahadevappa who is in the fray from the Chamarajnagar (SC-reserved) seat against the BJP’s S Balaraj. Bose has been aspiring for an electoral debut for nearly a decade and has used the current situation, where the Congress needs candidates who can self-finance their campaigns, to bargain for a ticket.

The Congress initially attempted to persuade Bose’s father Mahadevappa, a veteran leader and close associate of CM Siddaramaiah, to contest. But he refused to take the plunge just like several ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. The BJP has described the “fear” among Congress ministers to contest the Lok Sabha polls as an indication of precaution against another Modi wave.

The third candidate announced on Friday was the sitting Bellary MLA E Tukaram, a former minister from the