Davanagere: Fearing that the party may lose in the Davanagere Lok Sabha constituency without putting up a fight against the BJP, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has decided to change their choice of candidate. Instead of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who refused to contest, his son, former minister S S Mallikarjun will be the party candidate from Davanagere.

An announcement in this regard was made on Friday, March 29 night.

S S Mallikarjun, who lost in the Davanagere South Assembly constituency in the 2018 state Assembly elections, was the horticulture minister in the Siddaramaiah-led state government.

The AICC zeroed in on Mallikarjun even though the KPCC had suggested a ZP member to be the candidate for the Davanagere Lok Sabha seat.