New Delhi, Mar 28 : Four former Congress rebels figure in the first list of candidates finalised by the party today for around 100 of the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka which goes to polls on May 5.
The rebels, who are Independent MLAs, had served as ministers in the BJP government, sources said.
In a meeting of the Central Election Committee chaired by party President Sonia Gandhi, the party held threadbare discussions on the names of candidates suggested by the AICC's Screening Committee.
The Independents given tickets are Narendra Swamy, Venkataramanappa, Sudhakar and Shivaraj Thangadi. The lone Congress rebel and Independent MLA who does not figure in the list is Goolihatti Shekhar, the sources said.
Most of the remaining candidates are likely to be finalised in the second meeting of the CEC on March 30.
A number of Congress MLAs had resigned from their seats, which they later contested as BJP candidates in by-polls and won under Operation Lotus, when B S Yeddyurappa was chief minister.
Buoyed by its recent success in civic polls in the state and the exit of Yeddyurappa from the BJP, Congress leaders are confident of wresting power from the Opposition party in Karnataka, which was the maiden "lotus bloom" for the BJP in southern India.
As part of its poll exercises, the party has already set up a high-level coordination and monitoring committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony with senior Union ministers as its members, first of its kind for any particular state assembly election.
After the exit of Yeddyurappa from BJP, the party is counting on the votes of Lingayats, once the base of Congress, which later shifted largely to the former.
