Congress drafts 58 Karnataka leaders for Telangana polls

Congress on Saturday drafted in 58 senior Karnataka leaders – ten Ministers, 35 MLAs and 13 MLCs – for campaign management in Telangana which will go to polling booths on November 30.

Already, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has campaigned in some parts of the poll-bound states in the past week and the Congress leadership has decided to rope in more leaders from Telangana’s neighbour.

Ministers Dinesh Gundu Rao, Priyank Kharge, MC Sudhakar, SP Patil, KH Muniyappa, Krishna Byre Gowda, Shivaraj S Tangadagi, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Eshawara Khandre and B Nagendra will be AICC cluster in-charges.

Among MLAs, those chosen by Congress leadership to be constituency in-charges include Mahantesh Koujalagi, Abdul Jabbar, KC Veerendra, HV Venkatesh, Nara Bharath Reddy, Vinay Kulkarni, Basanagouda Daddal, Roopakala M, Pradeep Eshwar.

Saleem Ahmed, Umashree, UB Venkatesh, Naseer Ahmed, Prakash Hukkeri, and R Rajendra are among the MLCs who are chosen as constituency in-charges.

The renewed push from the central leadership in Telangana came amid party’s calculation that it has dramatically improved its position in the state in the past couple of months and it stands a chance to spring a surprise, as claimed in some surveys.

In late October, the Congress had appointed senior leader Dr Ajoy Kumar as the in-charge of the entire communications, including media, social media and war room, for the Telangana elections.