Karnataka polls: Congress releases 1st list of 124 candidates, Siddaramaiah to contest from Varuna

Bengaluru: The Congress has released its first list of 124 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly polls fielding Opposition leader Siddaramaiah from Varuna constituency and retaining most of the old faces.

Presently, the seat in Mysuru district is being held by his son Dr. Yatindra. Siddaramaiah is also expecting a ticket from another constituency, which is likely to be announced in the second list.

According to sources close to Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister might again contest from Badami constituency.

Varuna ticket has�been given to Siddaramaiah to ensure victory without having to campaign for a long time in the constituency. However, BJP is contemplating to field former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa's son B.Y. Vijayendra from Varuna.

In this scenario, the Varuna constituency will witness a fierce competition and a high voltage campaigning with Congress's game plan of using Siddaramaiah's services across the state likely to receive a jolt.

Senior Congress leader late Dhruvanarayana's son Darshan Dhruvanarayana has been allotted ticket from Nanjangud (SC) constituency, which is likely to see a close contest with BJP's B. Harshavardhan, who is son-in-law of former union minister V. Srinivasa Prasad.

Five senior Muslim candidates -- U.T. Khader (Ullal), B.Z. Zameer Ahmad Khan (Chamarajpet), Rahim Khan (Bidar) and Kaneez Fatima (Gulbarga North) have also been allotted tickets.

Priyakrishna is being fielded from Govindarajnagar constituency ruling out the possibility of rumours of BJP Minister V.Somanna joining Congress. The party has allotted father-son duo, Shamanur Shivashankarappa and S.S. Mallikarjun tickets from Davanagere South and Davanagere North constituencies.