Political activities in Karnataka, where polls to 224 assembly seats are due in May, have started gathering momentum as parties have embarked on the exercises to finalise their candidates.
Congress is hoping for a revival in the BJP-ruled state and has given a drubbing to BJP in the recently concluded polls to urban local bodies.
Yesterday, Congress announced names of Karnataka polls screening committee members and named senior party leader Luizinho Falerio as the Chairman of the Committee.
Karnataka is the first big state to go to the polls after elevation of Rahul Gandhi as Congress Vice-President, party sources pointed out.
BJP and JDS of former prime minister of H D Deve Gowda are yet to short-list their candidates.
BJP, which is already in a disarray after former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa parted ways from it and formed a separate party, is likely to get a new party chief in the state shortly, party sources said.
K S Eshwarappa resigned from the post earlier this month.
Meanwhile, a section of state BJP leaders has told the party's Karnataka leadership to make efforts to bring Yeddyurappa and former minister B Sriramulu, who had formed Karnataka Janatha Party and BSR Congress respectively, back into its fold.
Rajya Sabha member and an influential leader of Belgaum, Prabhakar Kore, has confirmed he did make the suggestion.
