Even though the Congress is yet to announce its Chamarajanagar candidate, the party’s Mysuru district unit has revealed Sunil Bose, son of Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa, as the nominee in a letter it sent to party members regarding Lok Sabha election campaigning. Bose’s candidature is almost certain after Mahadevappa refused to contest the polls from the constituency reserved for the Scheduled Castes. If he is officially declared the candidate, Bose will join the list of the children of Karnataka ministers fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Rather than pushing the ministers to contest the polls, the Congress leadership is understood to have agreed to issue B-forms to their children on the condition that the ministers will have to secure their children’s victory. Among the reasons why the high command had wanted ministers to contest was to send some of them to the Lok Sabha and make room in the state cabinet for some disgruntled MLAs. Other cabinet ministers tasked with securing their children’s win are Public Works Department Minister Satish Jarkiholi, whose daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi is in the fray in Chikkodi; Laxmi Hebbalkar, whose son Mrunal Hebbalkar is fielded from Belgaum; Sugarcane Development and APMC Minister Shivananda Patil, whose daughter Samyukta Patil is the candidate in Bagalkot; Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandra, whose son Sagar Khandre is the pick for Bidar; and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, whose daughter Sowmya Reddy is fielded from Bangalore South. Except for Sowmya Reddy, who was an MLA, all of them are political novices making their election debut. The family of Congress MLA and former minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa is looking to add another legislator to the family. His daughter-in-law and the wife of Mines and Geology Minister SS Mallikarjun, Prabha Mallikarjun, is the candidate in Davanagere. Among other children of politicians on the list of 25 candidates announced till date is Geetha Shivarajkumar, former chief minister S Bangarappa’s daughter. She is pitted against the BJP’s BY Raghavendra, BJP leader BS Yediyurappa’s son and sitting MP, in Shimoga. Another addition to the list is expected to be in the form of Raksha Ramaiah, Youth Congress leader and the son of former minister MR Seetharam. He is considered a front-runner for the Chikkaballapur seat. Chikkaballapur is among the three constituencies for which the Congress is yet to announce candidates. Former Union minister Veerappa Moily, who has represented the constituency, is also lobbying hard for the seat. Other relatives of Congress ministers in the fray include Bangalore Rural MP DK Suresh, brother of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. Suresh is the Congress’s sole Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka. Another prominent name is of Radhakrishna Doddamani, the son-in-law of Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Kharge has decided not to contest the polls. 10 out of 25 from political families Six children of ministers, a minister’s wife, a former chief minister’s daughter, a former Union minister’s son, the party chief’s son-in-law—10 of the 25 candidates announced by the Congress are from political families. Soon after the list of 17 candidates were announced, the Karnataka BJP took a dig at the Congress leadership for fielding party leaders’ children and relatives. BJP state president B Y Vijayendra recently said that the Congress had resorted to fielding children of ministers because none of the ministers were willing to contest the polls. “They were forced to depend on their families. Voter sentiment in Karnataka is in favour of the NDA,” he said. Karnataka will vote in two phases, on April 26 and May 27.
