Takeaways from Congress 3rd Lok Sabha list: Dynasts, turncoats in; Amethi, Raebareli still out

कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge की अध्यक्षता में आयोजित ‘केंद्रीय चुनाव समिति’ की बैठक में लोकसभा चुनाव, 2024 के लिए 57 लोकसभा सीटों पर कांग्रेस उम्मीदवारों के नाम की तीसरी लिस्ट जारी की गई। pic.twitter.com/7TMkx4faZ4

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 21, 2024

In Uttar Pradesh, state Congress president Ajay Rai may contest from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Imran Masood from Saharanpur, Congress veteran P L Punia’s son Tanuj Punia from Barabanki, and Danish Ali from Amroha.

The party has yet to decide on Amethi and Raebareli despite the Uttar Pradesh leadership of the party pushing for the candidatures of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, respectively. A section of the party leadership argues the Gandhi siblings are not keen to contest from Amethi and Raebareli. Another section believes it is mere posturing by the brother-sister duo.

Here are the major takeaways from the list:

Sons, daughters and other kin

The list of candidates for eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal and Puducherry — has the names of kin of several Congress leaders.

In West Bengal, the party replaced Malda Dakshin MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury with his son Isha Khan Choudhury and has fielded late Congress leader Abdus Sattar’s grandson Mohammad Mortaja Hossain from Jangipur.

In Karnakata, the party has fielded PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka Jarkıholi from Chikkodi, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy from Bangalore South, Women & Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar from Belgaum, and Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil’s daughter Samyukta S Patil from Bagalkot. Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre’s son Sagar Khandre has been fielded from Bidar.

In Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s turf of Gulbarga, the Congress has fielded his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani. In Bangalore Central, the Congress has fielded former Union Minister K Rahman Khan’s son Mansoor Ali Khan. In Davangere, the Congress has fielded veteran Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun. Her husband is a minister in the Siddaramiah government.

The other candidates are G Kumar Naik from Raichur (ST), K Rajashekar Basavaraj Hitnal from Koppal, Vinod Asooti from Dharwad, Anjali Nimbalkar from Uttara Kannada, Jayaprakash Hegde, who joined the Congress recently, from Udupi Chikmagalur, Padmaraj from Dakshina Kannada, former Rajya Sabha MP M V Rajeev Gowda from Bangalore North.

In Telangana, the party has fielded Gaddam Vamsi Krishna, the son of Speaker Gadam Prasad from Peddapalle. In Maharashtra, veteran leader and former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti is the candidate from Solapur (SC-reserved) and former Maharashtra minister and MLA K C Padvi’s son Goval Padvi from Nandurbar (ST-reserved constituency).

Of the 11 candidates from Gujarat on the list, the party has four dynasts, two of whom are sitting MLAs in the Assembly. Former state Congress president and Anklav MLA Amit Chavda will contest his first Lok Sabha election from Anand as former MP Bharatsinh Solanki, who is Chavda’s cousin, pulled out of the race recently. Chavda is the grandson of former Anand Lok Sabha MP Ishwarbhai Chavda, who was the father-in-law of former Gujarat CM and Bharatsinh’s father Madhavsinh Solanki. The party has also fielded sitting Khedbrahma MLA and tribal leader Dr Tushar Chaudhary from Sabarkantha. Tushar is a two-term Lok Sabha MP and the son of former Gujarat CM Amarsih Chaudhary.

Among the other dynasts on the list is former Gujarat Mahila Congress president Sonal Patel, an architect and daughter of veteran Congress leader Raman Patel, and current Pradesh Mahila Congress president Jenny Thummar who is the daughter of former Amreli MP Virji Thummar. While Sonal will take on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, Jenny will be contesting from Amreli.

Turncoats in Telangana

In Telangana, the party has fielded G Ranjith Reddy from Chevella. The sitting MP from the seat, Reddy joined the Congress from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) some days earlier. In Malkajgiri, it has fielded Vikarabad Zilla Parishad chairperson Patnam Sunitha Mahender Reddy who joined the Congress recently. She too joined the Congress from the BRS. The wife of MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy, she will lock horns against BJP’s Etala Rajender.

Danam Nagender, the Khairatabad MLA, who crossed over from the BRS last week been fielded from Secunderabad. He will take on Union Minister G Kishan Reddy. From Nagarkurnool, where sitting MP P Ramulu had crossed over to the BJP, the party has fielded Mallu Ravi, brother of Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu.

MLAs and interesting candidates

In Maharashtra’s Amravati (SC) seat, the party has fielded Daryapur MLA Balwant Wankhede. In Pune too, the party has fielded sitting MLA Ravindra Dhangekar. He will take on former Pune mayor and BJP candidate Muralidhar Mohol.

In Kolhapur, the candidate is Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj, the direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. Former MLA Vasant Chavan will contest from Nanded, which is the home district of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. He will take on current BJP MP Prataprao Chikhlikar. Dr Shivaji Kalge, a famous doctor from Latur, will be the candidate from Latur (SC). He will take on BJP MP Sudhakar Shrungare.

In Rajasthan, the party named five candidates. They are educationist and Suresh Gyan Vihar University Vice-Chancellor Sunil Sharma (Jaipur), Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (RSCPCR) chairperson Sangeeta Beniwal (Pali), AICC secretary Kuldeep Indora (Ganganagar), Baran Zila Pramukh Urmila Jain Bhaya (Jhalawar–Baran), and former Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leader Ummeda Ram Beniwal (Barmer). He recently joined the Congress.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress has fielded former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki from Arunachal West and Bosiram Siram from Arunachal East. In Purulia in West Bengal, the party has fielded its veteran Nepal Mahato. Incumbent Puducherry MP V Vaithilingam has been renominated from the seat.

— With inputs from ENS Kolkata, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad