Davanagere: Former minister and MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa refused to contest from the Davanagere Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming LS polls. He communicated to the party state leadership that he cannot contest due to personal reasons.
According to sources in the Congress party, Shivashankarappa had originally sought a ticket for his son, former minister S S Mallikarjun. But in order to put up a strong fight against the BJP, the party decided to field Shivashankarappa instead, announcing his name in their list of candidates.
Now, however, Shivashankarappa has declined to contest in the elections.
According to the sources, the party is now planning to field Tejaswi Patel, a member of the Davanagere Zilla Panchayat.
