Sachin Pilot excluded from Congress list of Karnataka star campaigners; Gehlot to campaign

Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40-star campaigners, including former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi among others, for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka. However, one prominent name was missing from the list, that of Sachin Pilot. Sachin Pilot has been at loggerheads with Ashok Gehlot's government on complaints of alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje dispensation. Last week, he also held a day-long fast in Jaipur over the Gehlot government's inaction in the case.

Pilot, who has been engrossed in a leadership scuffle with Gehlot, renewed his demand on Monday, saying, "It's been a week now but no action has been taken." He also skipped the one-on-one dialogue of Congress MLAs with AICC Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Gehlot and state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, saying he had engagements in Shahpur (Jaipur) and Khetri (Jhunjhunu) on the day.

Ashok Gehlot among 40 star campaigns of Congress for Karnataka polls

Notably, Ashok Gehlot has found a mention in the star campaigners list. His Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, and Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukku also have been named star campaigners.

The Congress' list of star campaigners has many stalwarts from Karnataka such as ex-chief minister Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, Jairam Ramesh, MB Patil, M Veerappa Moily, G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa and BK Hariprasad.

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ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಪಕ್ಷಕ್ಕೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು ನೀಡುವ ಒಂದೊಂದು ಮತವೂ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿಗೆ, ಪ್ರಗತಿಗೆ ಒಂದೊಂದು ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಲು ಇಟ್ಟಂತೆ.#ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್_ಬರಲಿದೆ_ಪ್ರಗತಿ_ತರಲಿದೆ pic.twitter.com/zIhSsKH6sh

— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka)

Others include AICC in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, senior party leaders K C Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan.

Ramalinga Reddy, DK Suresh, GC Chandrashekhar, Satish Jarkiholi, Syed Naseer Hussain, HM Revanna, Umashree, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Ramesh Chennithala, Srinivas BV, Revanth Reddy, Mohammed Azharuddin, Raj Babbar, Divya Spandana, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rupa Shashidhar, Imran Pratapgarhi and Sadhukokila are also on the list.

The Karnataka elections will be held on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the southern state.