Karnataka: JDS leader Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale joins Congress

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 30 (ANI): With Lok Sabha elections just around the corner, Janata Dal (Secular)'s leader, Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, on Saturday joined the Congress party.
"Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, the young leader who resigned from the Janata Dal and joined the Congress party, has today officially joined the party along with her supporters, extending greetings and seeking blessings," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a post on X.
Najma Nazeer Chikkanerale, the former working president of the Janata Dal (Secular)'s women's wing, joined the party as a worker at the age of 22 and quickly rose through the ranks. Within a year of joining, she became the state-level media spokesperson. At just 25 years old, she was appointed as the working president of the party's women's wing.
Meanwhile, after days of intense debate over the Kolar parliamentary seat in Karnataka, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Saturday finally announced KV Gowtham as its candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"The Central Election Committee has approved the candidature of KV Gowtham as Congress candidate to contest the ensuing general elections to the Lok Sabha from the 28-Kolar SC Parliamentary constituency of Karnataka," read the official statement.
Earlier, a massive political drama erupted in Karnataka over the Kolar Lok Sabha ticket in Congress, wherein at least 5 MLAs, including a sitting minister, and 2 MLCs (Members of Legislative Council) threatened to resign from the party over reports that the Kolar ticket was being given to Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa's family.
The MLAs and the MLc's alleged that the party distributes tickets within the family and said that since KH Muniyappa's daughter was already an MLA, the ticket should not go to another relative of the same family.
Karnataka, which has 28 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in two phases on April 26 and May 7.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and JD-S fought together against the BJP and the combine was decimated.
The BJP had won a record 25 seats; Congress and JD-S won just one seat each. The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19. The counting of votes is on June 4. (ANI)