By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts Cookies Policy.
Lok Sabha Elections: Kharge Fields Son-In-Law From Congress Bastion, Unlikely To Fight Polls
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is unlikely to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 as the party on Thursday fielded his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from the former's home turf of Gulbarga.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress Thursday fielded party chief Mallikarjun Kharge‘s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from the former’s home turf of Gulbarga, amid clear indications that the octogenarian leader is unlikely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Kharge ji’s hands are full. In addition to managing party affairs at the national level, he has to coordinate with the INDIA bloc partners. Also, his term in the Rajya Sabha is not yet over,” a senior Congress leader told news agency PTI.
Mallikarjun Kharge had won the Lok Sabha polls from the Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) segment in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a defeat in the 2019 general elections to BJP’s Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452.
This was the first electoral defeat in decades-long political career of the veteran Congress leader who is popularly known as “Solillada Saradara (a leader who hasn’t faced a defeat)”. Notably, Jadhav had resigned as a Congress MLA ahead of the 2019 polls and joined the BJP to fight the elections from Gulbarga.
Gulbarga – a Congress bastion
For decades, Gulbarga has been regarded as a bastion of the Congress and before the 2019 polls, the grand-old party had lost the constituency only twice– 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections– to the Janata Dal and the BJP, respectively.
Gulbarga has eight Assembly seats of which the Congress currently holds six. The BJP and the JD(S) hold one seat each.
Citing party sources, PTI reported that the Congress president’s son, Priyank Kharge, was not interested in contesting in the Lok Sabha elections from Gulbarga, hence, his brother-in-law, Doddamani, emerged as the only other natural choice.
“The final call in the matter, however, was taken by Mallikarjun Kharge,” the sources said, according to the PTI report.
Who is Radhakrishna Doddamani?
Born in Kalaburagi, Radhakrishna Doddamani is a businessman by profession and also manages educational institutions. Known as someone who keeps a low profile, Doddamani was said to be initially reluctant to enter active politics, but finally gave in after consultations with Kharge and other senior Congress leaders.
Doddamani has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising Mallikarjun Kharge’s successive electoral campaigns and reportedly very popular among Congress workers and supporters, especially in the Gurmitkal Assembly segment, which Kharge represented consecutively between 1972 and 2004.
(With PTI inputs)