Eshwarappa and Somanna get seats of their choice
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday named 72 candidates in its first list of candidates for the coming Karnataka Assembly election to 224 seats.
The list was announced after a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee in New Delhi.
Sorted out
Top leaders who figure in the list are State president B. S. Yeddyurappa, who will be contesting from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar (Hubballi-Dharwad Central) and R. Ashok (Padmanabhanagar).
The party has sorted out contentious issues between Mr. Yeddyurappa and Leader of the Opposition in the Council K.S. Eshwarappa as the latter has been given ticket to contest from the Shivamogga seat.
Earlier, the supporters of Mr. Yeddyurappa had demanded that Mr. Eshwarappa should not be allowed to contest from Shivamogga.
Similarly, the request by MLC V. Somanna to contest from Govindarajanagar in Bengaluru has been conceded by the high command, though Mr. Yeddyurappa’s supporters were not in favour of allowing Mr. Somanna to contest from that constituency.
This, the party insiders say, is an indication that the high command has merely gone by the potential of candidates rather than their loyalties to Mr. Yeddyurappa.
Party hoppers get ticket
Interestingly, all the 10 prominent party hoppers, who joined the BJP recently, have been provided tickets.
They are P. Rajiv (Kudachi), A.S. Nadahali (Muddebihal), Malikayya Guttedar(Afzalpura), C.P. Yogeshwar (Channapatna), Mallikarjun Khuba (Basavakalyan), Dr. Shivaraj Patil (Raichur), Haladi Srinivas Shetty (Kundapur), Gulihatti Shekhar (Hosanagar), Basangouda Patil Yatnal (Vijayapura City) and Gaviyappa (Vijayanagar).
Of them some leaders are those who have returned to the BJP fold following persuasion by top leaders.
Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. B. Sriramulu are the only two MPs who have been given ticket to contest the Assembly poll.
According to sources, the party is cautious about the prospects of by-polls to the Lok Sabha seats especially after its debacle in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections.
Curiously, Mr. Sriramulu, native of Ballari, has been given ticket from Molakalmur of Chitradurga.
Of the 28 Assembly constituencies coming under Bengaluru city limits, the party has announced names for 16 seats.
In Hoskote, the saffron party has given ticket to Sharat Bachhe Gowda, son of its former minister Bachhe Gowda.
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