Jagadish Shettar joined the Congress on Monday.
New Delhi:
The Congress’ list of star campaigners for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka had two high-profile names, one to make it and the other to drop out. While former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who recently joined the Congress after falling out with the BJP, was on the list, the name of Sachin Pilot, who has been making headlines for his secret feud with Ashok Gehlot, figured nowhere Was to be seen.
Ashok Gehlot was among the party’s 40 star campaigners along with other Congress chief ministers – Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh).
Mr Shettar was part of the Jana Sangh and the BJP for several decades before parting ways with the party after it was dropped as a candidate for the May 10 polls. He joined the Congress on Monday.
Sachin Pilot, who was on the list of star campaigners for the 2018 Karnataka elections, is not on the list this time. The 45-year-old was one of the star campaigners of the recently concluded Assam elections.
The development comes close to protests by Mr Pilot against his own government in the state. He has alleged that the Ashok Gehlot government failed to investigate corruption cases during the BJP rule.
Shashi Tharoor, who missed out on the Congress’ Gujarat list before making a comeback as the party’s star campaigner in Nagaland, has been included in the Karnataka list.
The list also includes constants – Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among others.
Karnataka Congress heavyweights like Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, Veerappa Moily, MB Patil and Satish Jarkiholi will also campaign for the party.
Ramalinga Reddy, DK Suresh, GC Chandrasekhar, Syed Naseer Hussain, Jamir Ahmed Khan, HM Revanna, Umashree, Revanth Reddy, Ramesh Chennithala, Srinivas Biwi, Raj Babbar, Mohd Azharuddin, Divya Spandana, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, Roopa Shashidhar and Sadhukokila are also on the list.
Assembly elections will be held on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13 in Karnataka, where the Congress is trying to oust the BJP from power.