Ramya's mother Ranjita, Mallikarjun Kharge in Congress fake list

A purported list of 131 Congress candidates for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections sent leaders into a tizzy on Tuesday even as party's top brass continued its deliberations on finalising the contestants here.

As Congress Screening Committee headed by Madhusudhan Mistry was busy finalising the candidates for the forthcoming elections, a list of 131 names, including that of senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge from Chittapur and Ranjita, mother of AICC social media head Ramya, was sent to WhatsApp groups of mediapersons.

Hundreds of ticket aspirants who had gathered at the Congress' war room on Gurudwara Rakabganj Road here, started pleading with mediapersons to share the list and started dialing their leaders to share the news.

Though the list was not released on the official letter head of the Congress, it did carry the signature of Oscar Fernandes, a member of the Central Election Committee.

Madhu Yaskhi Goud, AICC secretary incharge Karnataka clarified at the venue that it was a fake list and Central Election Committee headed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi was yet to hold its meeting.

He alleged that it was the handiwork of the BJP IT Cell and the Congress will lodge a police complaint.