Ministers Satish Jarkiholi and Lakshmi Hebbalkar on Thursday began campaigning for their children Priyanka Jarkiholi and Mrinal Hebbalkar, respectively, even as reports of them getting party ticket for the parliamentary polls came in. (In a late-night announcement, the Congress released its list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, featuring the names of these two also.)
Mr. Jarkiholi spoke at a few party meetings in Hukkeri and Bailhongal and asked people to vote for the Congress. At the time, he did not say Priyanka Jarkiholi could be nominated from Chikkodi constituency. In Hukkeri, he told reporters that the party was considering her candidature, but a final decision was yet to be made. He said that the party was likely to announce the candidates in a day or two.
Ms. Hebbalkar, however, urged party workers to vote for her son Mrinal Hebbalkar who she said will be the party candidate in Belagavi.
She addressed a party workers rally at her residence in Belagavi and also one in Bailhongal on Wednesday. She said that her 31-year-old son has been actively engaged in party politics for over 10 years now, after he graduated from a city-based engineering college.
She travelled to Bengaluru on Thursday along with Mrinal Hebbalkar to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
Meanwhile, the former MLA from Khanapur Anjali Nimbalkar began touring villages in Uttara Kannada. She is hopeful of getting the Congress ticket from the Uttara Kannada constituency. Khanapur and Kittur Assembly seats, located in Belagavi district, are part of the Uttara Kannada constituency that has been represented by six-time MP Anantkumar Hegde of the BJP.
Dr. Nimbalkar is married to senior IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar. She is the cousin of the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chauhan who recently joined the BJP and became a Rajya Sabha member.
