ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Congress fields Satish Sharma from Amethi, leaves Aligarh for Kesri

Home Exteriors Furniture

Ending days of speculation that Sonia Gandhi may contest from her late husband's parliamentary constituency, Amethi, the Congress today nominated Captain Satish Sharma, long-time friend of the family, from the seat.

With a news agency flashing the news on Monday that Sonia would contest the Amethi seat, speculation reached fever-pitch till the rumour was scotched by 10 Janpath late last night.

Sharma's name was among those featuring in the Congress list of candidates released for Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Party spokesperson Ambika Soni also announced Sonia's hectic election tour from February 2 to 5.

On February 2, Gandhi will tour Andhra Pradesh, and address public meetings at Nalgonda, Guntur, Kakinada, and Vishakapatnam.

On February 3, she will address public meetings in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Coimbatore (all in Tamil Nadu), and one in Mangalore (Karnataka).

The next day, February 4, Gandhi will address meetings in Udaipur, Bhilwara, Kota and Dausa in Rajasthan. On February 5, she will tour Bihar and West Bengal. In Bihar she is to address public meetings at Katihar and Sahibganj while in Bengal she will address meetings in Malda, Raiganj and Calcutta.

Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded H N Bahuguna's son Vijay from the Arhwal constitutency in Uttar Pradesh. Other notable candidates from the state are former Seva Dal chief Harish Rawat from Almora, Narain Dutt Tewari in Nainital, Jayendra Prasada (brother of Congress vice-president Jitendra Prasada) from Shajahanpur, Deepa Kaul (daughter of former Union minister Sheila Kaul) from Rae Bareilly, Chandrajit Yadav from Ghosi, Ram Naresh Yadav from Azamgarh, and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai from Meerut, while the Aligarh constituency has been left for party chief Sitaram Kesri.

Youth Congress president Satyajitsinh Gaekwad has been fielded again from Baroda in Gujarat.

The party candidates for Rajasthan include Dr Balram Jakhar from the Bikaner constituency who recently expressed his frustration at not being given a party ticket.

Congress rebel leader Rajesh Pilot has been accommodated in Dausa, former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh from Bharatpur, former Rajasthan chief minister Jagannath Pahadia from Bayana (SC) seat, former Union minister Girija Vyas from Udaipur, and former PCC chief Ashok Gehlot from Joshpur.

In Haryana, while the names of party candidates Bhupender Singh Hooda from Rohtak and Selja, former Union minister, from Sirsa have already been announced, former chief minister Bhajan Lal is the Congress candidate from the Karnal constituency.

In Karnataka, Veerappa Moily has been finally selected as the Congress candidate from Chikmagalur, replacing Tara Devi Siddhartha.

Tell us what you think of this report