The Congress party on Saturday announced the party’s first list of candidates ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections. Congress issued a list of 124 candidates in the first list comprising former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar.

According to the list issued by the Congress party, former chief minister Siddaramaiah will be contesting the elections from the Varuna constituency, whereas, Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar is fighting from the Kanapura constituency.

Former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara has also been fielded from the Koratagere constituency, which is an SC seat. Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son and former Minister Priyank Kharge will contest from Chitapur (SC) constituency.

Other notable names in the first list of candidates include Satish Jarkiholi, who will be contesting from the Yemkanmardi seat, Lakshmi Hebbalkar from Belgaum Rural, Tanveer Sait from Narasimharaja, BZ Zameer Ahmed from Chamrajpet, former minister KH Muniappa from Devanhalli among with others.

See full list below:

The list of first Congress candidates comes after the party’s Central Election Committee held a meeting in Delhi in March 17. As per the reports, the meeting was chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge who sanctioned the first list of candidates. It was also reported that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also in attendance at the meeting.

The Congress party is the first party in the state to release its fist candidate list. The grand old party is anticipated to be the frontrunner in the Karnataka assembly elections as many suggest anti-incumbency sentiments in the state. However, BJP is also expected to come out swinging after being boxed into the corner.

The incumbent BJP has been accused of corruption by the contractors union numerous times whereas Congress has picked up the baton to promise a corruption-free Karnataka. Karnataka assembly elections are anticipated to be a showdown between Congress and the BJP.

As per the schedule for the assembly elections in Karnataka, the Election commission is yet to announce the schedule, however, it is predicted that the elections will be scheduled before May.

After Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Parliament, the Congress leader took to Twitter to register his stance on what many Opposition leaders, including Congress, called a dark day for Democracy. The Congress leader in his tweet wrote that he is ready to pay any cost.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in his tweet, wrote a brief and succinct reply to his disqualification. Gandhi wrote that he is fighting for the voice of the country and he is ready to pay any cost for it.

Rahul Gandhi’s tweet comes after the Lok Sabha issued a notification about his expulsion from the parliament following his conviction in Surat Court in a 2019 defamation case. The notification by Lok Sabha inspired Congress and other Opposition parties joined hands to side with the Congress leader as they criticised the Centre over the move.

Congress chief Malikarjun Kharge spoke to the media and said that the BJP tried all the ways to disqualify Rahul Gandhi. He further accused the BJP of trying to silence the ones who are speaking the truth. Kharge said that Congress will continue speaking the truth and said that they will continue to demand Joint Parliamentary Committee in the Adani case. He further added and said that Congress is ready to go to jail to save democracy.

Other Opposition leaders also reverberated the sentiments by the Congress party in support of Rahul Gandhi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee said that in PM Modi’s India, Opposition leaders are targeted whereas BJP leaders with criminal records are inducted into the cabinet.

The West Bengal CM also said that after Gandhi’s disqualification, the people in the country witnessed a new low in a constitutional democracy.

Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of Maharashtra also chimed in to and said that calling a thief, a thief has now become a crime in the country. He further added that the thieves are still free, yet Rahul Gandhi is punished. Thackeray further termed the move to be a direct attack on democracy.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to slam the Centre as he wrote that the expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha is shocking. He further wrote that the country is passing through very difficult times and alleged the BJP of keeping the whole country scared.

However, despite the Opposition uniting on the expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, the BJP leaders celebrated the verdict given by the Gujarat court and justified that the Congress doesn’t have any ground to stand on to support Rahul Gandhi as Gandhi’s remarks went against a community.

As the hunt for fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh continued for the seventh day today, videos of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief private militia christened ‘Anandpur Khalsa Force’ or AKF, have emerged on social media platforms.

Visuals doing the rounds on social media show the members of notorious Khalistan sympathizers private army donning body armor emblazoned with the AKF logo, undergoing weapons training in a forested area, which is reportedly a make-shift shooting range constructed in Amritpal Singh’s native village of Jallupur Khera.

Watch the videos here:

According to the Punjab Police, Amritpal’s former gunman, Tejinder Singh Gill alias Gorkha Baba, revealed during questioning that the ‘Waris Punjab De’ supremo ran a highly organized network to train recruits in his protection force, with extensive weapons training and target practice.

Tejinder told the police that Amritpal Singh had formed a private militia called the Anandpur Khalsa Force or AKF who underwent extensive arms training at a makeshift shooting range in the Jallupur Khera village.

Singh’s former bodyguard told the cops that AKF recruits underwent rigorous arms training and target practice and were accorded ranked as per their seniority.

Meanwhile, reports today claimed that the fugitive Khalistani may be headed for Delhi, a day after his last known location was traced to Haryana.

An NDTV report quoting sources said the security has been heightened across the national capital as its suspected that the notorious ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief may be headed to Delhi after last being spotted in Shahabad in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

On Sunday, Amritpal Singh and his associate Papalpreet Singh, had stayed at Shahabad home of a woman identified as Baljeet Kaur, who was arrested yesterday, Punjab Police said.

A video with a time stamp of Monday, doing the rounds on the internet yesterday showed the fugitive Sikh preacher dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, trying to hide his face with an umbrella as he was departing from the Baljeet Kaur’s house in Shahabad.

On Thursday, the Punjab Police arrested Amritpal Singh’s former gunman and notorious associate, Tejinder Singh aka Gorkha Baba.

A report quoted DSP Payal Harsimrat Singh of the Punjab Police as saying that Tejinder Singh, a resident of Punjab’s Mangewal village, was nabbed by the Khanna police.

A nation-wide crackdown was launched to nab Amritpal Singh after the dreaded Khalistani leader and his supporters armed with swords and guns, stormed a police station in Ajnala on the outskirts of Amritsar city last month and clashed with police for the release of one of his aides Lovepreet Singh.