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Congress nominates 4 for Chhattisgarh, 1 for Tamil Nadu
The Congress on Tuesday announced the candidates for the remaining four seats in Chhattisgarh and last seat in Tamil Nadu as it released its seventh list of nominees on Tuesday for the April-May general elections.
The Congress on Tuesday announced the candidates for the remaining four seats in Chhattisgarh and last seat in Tamil Nadu as it released its seventh list of nominees on Tuesday for the April-May general elections.
In Tamil Nadu, the Congress fielded R Sudha from Mayiladuthurai seat that was won by former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyer thrice prior to 2019. In 2019, the seat was contested by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), an ally of the Congress.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress fielded Devender Singh Yadav, a sitting MLA from Bhilai Nagar, from Bilaspur Lok Sabha seat, Biresh Thakur from Kanker, Shashi Singh from Surguja and Menka Devi Singh from Raigarh seat – the last three are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. With the latest announcements, the Congress named candidates for all 11 seats in the state.
While Yadav, who has worked with the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), earned praise for logistics arrangements during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state, he was named as an accused by the state’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in an alleged coal levy scam in January this year.
Thakur had contested from Kanker seat in 2019 but lost to BJP’s Mohan Mandavi by around 7,000 votes.
Shashi Singh, a national secretary of IYC, is currently a member of Zila Panchayat. Her father, late Tuleshwar Singh, was a minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in the state.
Devi Singh, on the other hand, is a part of the erstwhile Sarangarh royal family. Her father, Raja Nareschandra Singh, served as chief minister of then undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Yadav and Shashi Singh had accompanied Gandhi in the Bharat Jodo Yatra from the start till its conclusion.
“Shashi’s father Tuleshwar Singh was a two-time MLA from Prem Nagar assembly. She is also the Zila Panchayat member from Surajpur. Yadav is serving his second term as MLA from Bhilai Nagar,” said Harsh Dubey, a political commentator based out of Chhattisgarh. He added that of the 19 urban seats in Chhattisgarh, only Yadav managed to win and retain the Bhilai Nagar seat in the 2023 assembly elections.
