The BJP on Monday announced 82 candidates, including the elder brother of tainted mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy and son of late Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, for the Karnataka Assembly polls, taking to 154 the number of constituencies for which it has declared its nominees.
Polls for the 224-member Assembly is scheduled on May 12.
In the second list released on Monday, the BJP has fielded Reddy’s elder brother G. Somashekar Reddy from Bellary City while Kumar Bangarappa will contest from Sorab.
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G. Janardhan Reddy is an an accused in illegal mining case.
Krishnaiah Setty, an old associate of Mr. Yeddyurappa, has been fielded from from Malur.
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Among the seats for which the party is yet to announce candidates is Varuna, for which Mr. Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Vijayendra is seen as a strong contender.
The Congress has fielded Siddaramaiah’s son Yatheendra from Varuna, currently held by the Chief Minister, who has shifted to Chamundeshwari. The BJP has not announced its candidate against the Chief Minister.
The BJP released the list a day after its central election committee met in New Delhi to finalise the names of its candidates for the high stakes election.
The first list
The BJP declared its first list of 72 nominees on April 8 that included its chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa, and senior leaders K.S. Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar.
The Congress on April 15 released its list of 218 candidates.
The BJP was reduced to 40 seats in the last Assembly polls in 2013 in which the Congress won 122 seats. The JD(S), led by Deve Gowda, had also won 40 seats.
Mr. Yeddyurappa floated his own party, Karnataka Janata Paksha, in the last elections after he was removed as Chief Minister by the BJP over graft charges. The Lingayat leader, however, merged his party with the BJP in 2014.
He is contesting from Shikaripura in the coming polls.
The BJP is making an all-out bid to oust the Congress from power in the southern State.