Karnataka: Congress list awaits the Sonia Gandhi's nod

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Bengaluru: The Congress is likely to announce the names of candidates that have been finalized for more than 200 Assembly constituencies either tomorrow or the day after, once the list is given a final vetting by party president Sonia Gandhi, giving its nominees a head start, a month ahead of the D-day of May 5.
Sources in the party said the Central Election Committee (CEC), which met twice last Saturday to endorse the names of 180 candidates, would meet again after Sonia Gandhi's return from the United States on April 4, adding that the list was almost final in all respects and that KPCC chief G. Parameshwar had already started campaigning in his Koratagere constituency in Tumkur district.
Though several aspirants were claiming that they had made it to the list, prompting protests by supporters of other contenders, the CEC would approve issue of 'B' forms shortly.
Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel will take a final call on the thorny issue of tickets to minorities as leaders like Union minister K. Rahman Khan and former Union minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief had demanded tickets for their kin in constituencies with multiple runners.
Sources said that immediately after the release of the first list, the screening committee would meet to work on the remaining seats which is also where the party witnessed a problem of plenty-too many aspirants each backed by a senior leader.
The second list will be announced in the second week of April. 
In a strong bid to woo every section of voters, the Congress party's Campaign Committee has decided to launch a series of region and language specific campaigns acrossthe state by roping in as many as 40 star campaigners including mega star Chiranjeevi, Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh, former cricketer, Mohammed Azharuddin and popular Kannada actors Ambarish and Shashikumar.
Apart from this, political heavyweights like AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Union ministers P. Chidambaram, A. K. Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni and Sushil Kuamr Shinde will be touring the state ahead of the assembly polls.
The detailed tour campaign programme is yet to be finalized. The Campaign committee will be meeting to give its final touch to the tour programmes after consulting KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar on Wednesday.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Campaign Committee chairman, Veeranna Mattikatti said, “We are going to people with a catch line Abhivruddhiye Mantra Adhikarakkagi Tantra (Development is Mantra, Strategy is to win power).“ According to him, Azharuddin, Azad and state leaders like former CM S.M. Krishna and Union ministers Mallikarjuan Kharge and Rehman Khan will be extensively touring the state.
“Chiranjeevi, now a Union minister, will be requested to tour districts with a Telugu speaking population in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region and Kolar district where he commands enormous influence. Similarly, we will ask Maharashtra leaders, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Bollywood actor, Riteish Deshmukh to tour Marathi speaking regions like Belgaum, Bidar and Bijapur,“ Mattikatti explained.

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