Bangalore : Congress and JD(S) are going all out to woo Muslims who roughly constitute around 12% of the population in the state.

The JD(S) on Sunday announced list of four candidates – all Muslims – from Bangalore city. Zameer Ahmed Khan from Chamarajapet, Abdul Azeem from Hebbal, Abbas Ali Bohra from Shivajinagar and KS Samiulla from Jayanagar have been given tickets.

Former chief minister and JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy recently visited the Ajmer dargah to seek blessings before declaring the candidates. Further, in an attempt to woo Muslims, JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda had demanded the state and Centre to name Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) after Tipu Sultan.

Barring 15 assembly segments, the Congress appears to have finalized the list on Sunday. Some of the constituencies where the leaders could not arrive at a consensus include Hebbal, Bangalore South, Chitradurga, Channapatana, Davanagere, Bellary, Hospet, Chittapur, among others.

The Congress is also expected to field more candidates from minority communities in the polls than in the past. “We will try to give the minorities maximum representation. It will be more than what was given in the past. It could be up between 15 and 20,” source said.

What’s interesting is that the development is not a pointer to suggest that the Congress has grown dearer to the minorities in the state. It’s quite the contrary, sources said, pointing out that this was a clear sign of the growing disenchantment of the community with the Congress, besides their determination to assert themselves in the political arena.

AICC president Sonia Gandhi is said to have asked her political secretary Ahmed Patel and defence minister AK Anthony to complete the task and finalize the list. The first list is expected to be announced in the first week of this month. Both KPCC president G Parameshwara and leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Siddaramaiah are expected to meet Sonia again on April 4 to discuss the list of candidates.-DH News