Congress issues first list of candidates

Renuka Chowdhury was re-nominated from the Khammam constituency of Andhra Pradesh and figured in the list of 75 "" mostly sitting ""MPs who were re-nominated in the first list of candidates released by the Congress yesterday.

I Jaipal Reddy, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Margaret Alva, however, figured on the list. Prominent Muslim leader and MP from Bangalore (North), CK Jaffer Sharief, who had indicated he was thinking of leaving the Congress has been renominated from his constituency.

Several SC and ST leaders have also been renominated. However, in many seats in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh those who had lost by huge margins in the 1999 election have not been renamed as Congress candidate.

Earlier in the day, when Sonia Gandhi was asked, during her Karnataka tour, whether she or one of her children were going to contest from Bellary, all she said was: "You will get to know soon".