Tellingly, it took  the Congress 48 hours after the BJP announced its list of candidates for the remaining seven seats of the total 28 seats, to reveal the names of candidates for three constituencies -  Chikkaballapur, Chamarajanagar and Ballari  - and another 24 hours to announce its candidate for Kolar - K.V. Gowtham.

Worse, the candidates for both Kolar and Chikballapur are rank outsiders, and lack the backing of its cadres.

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The choice of the candidates by the high command, at the instance of the state leaders, has not gone down well especially in Kolar, where two factions, one led by Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs Minister K.H.Muniyappa and another led by former speaker K R.Ramesh Kumar, not only hold the key to victory but are at loggerheads. As the candidates recommended by them were flatly rejected by the Delhi leaders, it was to be seen whether they would whole-heartedly work for the 'outsider' K. V. Gowtham.

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Who is K.V.Goutham?

K.V.Goutham was not in the race for the ticket. The son of Vijay Kumar who had served as mayor of Bengaluru, he had been actively involved in youth Congress activities but was never in the  limelight.

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In fact, the Kolar seat had been the strong hold of the Congress as Muniyappa had won from this seat nine times, but lost to the little known BJP candidate, Muniswamy, in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

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But he won thanks to the BJP wave that helped the  party win 25 out of 28 seats.

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Another seat that witnessed strong fight for ticket had been the Chikballapur seat. The high command has given a ticket to Raksha Ramaiah, a son of former minister and MLA M.R.Sitaram ignoring the two times MP and former CM, M.Veerappa Moily and former deputy speaker Shivashankar Reddy. The duo had tried their best to grab the ticket but they failed in their endeavour.

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According to them, Raksha Ramaiah is an outsider who did not have any base in Chikballapur constituency.

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Moily had met AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge two days ago to stake claim for the ticket as it would be his last election but the high command did not take note of the same and preferred a youth. The miffed Shivashankar Reddy is most likely to join the BJP on Monday or Tuesday and support the BJP candidate and former minister, Dr M.Sudhakar.

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Will the people of these two important constituencies support the new faces? That’s the question.

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