Margaret Alva springs back to Cong list

Margaret Alva,who was removed from all party posts following her allegations about the sale of party tickets,has been given the party ticket.

Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva,who had been removed from all party posts following her allegations about the sale of party tickets last November,has been given the party ticket to contest from Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha seat. On Tuesday,the party also fielded two-term MLA Suresh Patel to take on BJPs Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani in Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency.

AICC media cell chairperson M Veerappa Moily has been fielded from Chikkballapur constituency while Karnataka Youth Congress president Krishna Byre Gowda has been assigned the task of taking on senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar in Bangalore South.

The party was earlier considering S M Krishnas name for Bangalore South seat,but his name was dropped because of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjees argument that Krishna had been brought to the Rajya Sabha only last year and the party cannot regain the Rajya Sabha seat if it is vacated by him.

The former Karnataka chief minister was also learnt to be reluctant to take on Ananth Kumar; the Congress could secure only 13,450 votes in Krishnas former constituency of Maddur in the recent Assembly bypoll,which had come as a blow to Krishnas standing as a powerful Vokkaliga leader. The Congress had fielded Krishnas nephew in the Maddur bypoll.

The choice of Byre Gowda as the Congress candidate from Bangalore South was also in keeping with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhis suggestion to the party to field young candidates on difficult seats. Jayaprakash Hegde and Dhruva Narayan will be the Congress candidates for Udupi-Chikmagalur and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha seats respectively. The party fielded Bhavanaben Anil Patel in Navsari parliamentary constituency in Gujarat.

In Maharashtra,the Congress has fielded Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde from Solapur. Sanjay Nirupam has been given the party ticket for Mumbai (North) after sitting MP Govinda decided not to contest. Kalyan Kale from Jalna,Uttam Singh Pawar from Aurangabad,Gurudas Kamat from Mumbai (North-West),and Pratik Prakash Patil from Sangli were the other names declared on Tuesday.

Tourism Minister Ambika Soni was given charge,though temporarily,of Rajasthan,replacing Mukul Wasnik, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.