The Congress released its first list of 39 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, 8 March. Of these, about 28 seats are from the south Indian states, where the party has a strong presence.
These include 16 seats from Kerala, seven from Karnataka, four from Telangana, and one from Lakshadweep.
Some of the big names in the list include senior Congress Rahul Gandhi, who will be contesting from Kerala's Wayanad yet again, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, who will be contesting from Kerala's Alappuzha, and sitting Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who will be contesting from the seat for the fourth time.
Congress first list.
(Photo: X)a
Here's a lowdown on the Congress' candidates from the south.
Kerala: Some Shuffling in Constituencies
The Congress' first list in Kerala mostly comprises constituencies where the party already has sitting MPs. In fact, it is repeating most of its sitting MPs in the state, barring a few constituencies like Vadakara and Thrissur.
In Thrissur, the party has fielded the late Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran's son K Muraleedharan. He is the sitting MP of Vadakara.
The party has, essentially, dropped TN Prathapan – who belongs to an OBC caste – from Thrissur, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded actor Suresh Gopi for the second time in Parliamentary polls. The Congress may be trying to avoid the consolidation of Nair (upper caste) votes in Gopi's favour by fielding Muraleedharan, who is also a Nair.
Thrissur is one constituency in Kerala that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently visited over the past two months. You can read about the BJP's efforts to win over Thrissur here.
It is also important to note that Muraleedharan's sister Padmaja Venugopal, who was a prominent Congress leader, joined the BJP on Thursday, 7 March. Rumours are rife that she may contest from the Chalakudy constituency – where her father was an MP from 1999 to 2004 – against the Congress' sitting MP Benny Behanan.
Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil has been given the Vadakara seat; he will be contesting against CPI(M)'s KK Shailaja, who served as the state's health minister during the COVID crisis. Parambil is the only Muslim candidate from Kerala in the Congress' first list.
KC Venugopal, meanwhile, will contest from Alappuzha, where he was the MP from 2009 to 2019. He will be contesting against incumbent CPI(M) MP AM Arif and BJP's Shobha Surendran.
Karnataka: DK Suresh To Contest for Third Time
DK Suresh, the brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, is set to contest from Bengaluru Rural for the third time. In 2019, he was the only Congress candidate to win the Parliamentary elections, in which the BJP won 25 out of 28 seats.
Though Suresh had won by a massive margin in 2019, this time, he must face the combined strength of BJP and Janata Dal (Secular).
The party has fielded Geeta Shivarajkumar – wife of veteran Kannada actor Shivaraj Kumar – from Shimoga, where BY Raghavendra, son of senior BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, is the sitting MP. Geeta Shivarajkumar had contested the 2014 elections for the JD(S), only to be defeated by Yeddyurappa. She is also the sister of Minister Madhu Bangarappa.
In Mandya – where the Vokkaliga community has a considerable presence – the Congress has fielded businessman Venkataramegowda, popularly known as Star Chandru. He is also the brother of sitting Independent MLA from Gauribidanur KH Puttuswamy, who is the second richest MLA in the country, as per a report by TOI.
Sumalatha Ambareesh, who won Mandya as an Independent candidate in 2019, joined the BJP later. The BJP's candidate in Mandya, however, is undecided.
Telangana: Jana Reddy's Son To Contest From Nalgonda
In Zahirabad, the Congress has fielded Suresh Kumar Shetkar, who has represented the constituency from 2009 to 2014. In 2014, he was defeated by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi's BB Patil, who went on to win the constituency for another term in 2019.
In a strong blow to the BRS, Patil recently joined the BJP and is the party's candidate in Zahirabad. The constituency borders Karnataka and had witnessed incidents of violence against Muslims during the Ram Mandir consecration on 22 January.
In Nalgonda, where senior Telangana Congress leader and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy served as MP, the party is fielding veteran Congress leader K Jana Reddy's son, Kunduru Raghuveer.
The party may have chosen to field a fresh face as it has a strong presence in the Nalgonda region, where several Congress leaders (like Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, and Uttam Kumar Reddy) had won their seats in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
In Mahbubnagar and Mahabubabad, the party has fielded known Congress faces Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy and Balram Naik, respectively.
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