New Delhi: Congress finalised the names of candidates for more than 100 seats on Friday ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. According to party sources, the first list will be out in a few days and all the sitting MLAs will not be repeated.
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, dismissed the possibility of any alliance and said, “There will be no alliance with anyone. We are going alone. We are fighting alone and we will come (to power) alone.”
The decision was taken at the Congress’s Central Election Committee meeting for the state polls earlier in the day. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah were among the leaders present in the meeting.
It is to be noted that the Congress has set a target of winning at least 150 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly to come to power in the southern state with a clear majority. While JD(S) has already announced the first list of 93 candidates for the Assembly elections, BJP and Congress are yet to announce their list.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and Bangalore Rural MP DK Suresh earlier this week said he was not interested in state politics, a day after his brother and the party's state chief DK Shivakumar indicated about fielding him from Ramanagara segment for the upcoming elections. He also said that it will be difficult as he is the only Congress member in Lok Sabha from Karnataka.
Earlier on March 6, Shivakumar talked about his party’s prospects in the upcoming elections and said the ruling BJP will not be able to secure more than 65 seats.
"We're confident of securing good numbers in the elections. We know the BJP will not get more than 65 seats. From what I have gathered from my sources, the BJP's tally might even come down to 40 seats," news agency ANI quoted Shivakumar as saying.