C.N. Manjunath | Photo Credit:
Scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, noted cardiologist C.N. Manjunath and the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai are among those set to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Karnataka on the BJP ticket, as the party has replaced candidates in 10 constituencies out of 20 for which the names were announced on Wednesday.
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While nine are fresh contestants, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje has been shifted from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru to Bengaluru North constituency in place of incumbent MP and former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Udupi-Chikkamgaluru had seen resistance to renominating her with some of the party workers staging “Shobha go back” campaign. Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary has been fielded from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru from where senior leader C.T. Ravi was keen to contest.
Dr. Manjunath, son-in-law of JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, will be locking horns with Congress leader and shrewd poll strategist D.K. Suresh, the brother of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, from Bengaluru Rural seat. The cardiologist, who met BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday, is set to join the saffron party formally on Thursday.
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The prominent leaders, who have been dropped, include journalist-turned-MP Pratap Simha, who has been replaced by Mr. Wadiyar for the Mysuru seat, and the former party State president Nalin Kumar Kateel, who has been replaced by Capt. Brijesh Chowta from Dakshina Kannada, besides Mr. Sadananda Gowda.
The former Minister V. Somanna has been given the ticket from Tumakuru while another former Minister B. Sriramulu has been fielded from Ballari. Mr. Yediyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra has been renominated from Shivamogga while Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Bhagwant Khuba have been renominated from Dharwad and Bidar seats, respectively.
Rebellion in ranks
However, the announcement of the list of candidates has also posed the threat of rebellion, targeted against Mr. Yediyurappa, as the party has denied the ticket to K.E. Kanthesh, son of its veteran leader and OBC face K.S. Eshwarappa, who was keen to make a poll debut from Haveri. The party has fielded Mr. Bommai from here. Mr. Eshwarappa’s supporters have called for a meeting on Friday to decide the next course of action, including taking on Mr. Raghavendra in Shivamogga as an Independent candidate.
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The party is yet to announce the candidate for Mandya, which has turned out to be tricky, with both its ally Janata Dal (S) and Independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh showing keen interest in getting this seat.
Similarly, the party has kept its decision pending on the Uttara Kannada seat where its incumbent MP Anantkumar Hegde has been embarrassing it by issuing controversial statements related to changing the Constitution.
The party has given the ticket from Davangere to Gayathri Siddeshwar, wife of incumbent MP G.M. Siddeshwar. In Chamarajanagar reserved constituency, where the two sons-in-law of incumbent MP V. Sreenivas Prasad were competing with each other to get the ticket, the party has chosen the former legislator S. Balaraj.