New Delhi: The Congress party in Karnataka, upbeat after having lured two senior leaders from the BJP – a former chief minister and a deputy chief minister – who have an influential hold on the Lingayat community, has released its third list for the elections to the state assembly on Tuesday, April 18.The seven-member list, according to South First, has important clues about the Congress’s aggression and willingness to bet on making inroads into the BJP camp. It has given the nomination of Hubli-Dharwad Central to Jagadish Shettar. This seat was the bone of contention that drew Shettar and his party of many decades apart.On Tuesday, the Congress party announced that Mohammed Yusuf Savanur would contest in Shiggaon, against the incumbent chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. However, on Wednesday, April 18, amended it to say Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan would instead contest against Bommai.H.D. Thammaiah, a former aide of BJP leader and national general secretary C.T. Ravi, would be contesting on a Congress ticket. Thammaiah is also considered a significant Lingayat leader and he resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress in February. Karnataka will vote on May 10 to elect members to its 224-member legislative assembly. The results will be declared on May 13.Meanwhile, Shettar pulled no punches in attacking BJP national secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh, going as far as to say that he was responsible for “setting Karnataka BJP on fire”. Reports say that Shettar directly blaming Santhosh’s “favouritism towards others” as the reason for him not being given a ticket. BJP leaders like Shobha Karandlaje and Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar defended Santosh, with Karandlaje saying, “Santhosh hasn’t come to BJP for electoral politics but for the organisation.”Note: This article was updated at 7:53 pm on April 19, 2023, to reflect that Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan would contest from Shiggaon.