The former Chief Minister and six-time MLA Jagadish Shettar, who has been asked to retire from electoral politics by the BJP high command, has not made it to the first list of candidates of the party that was announced late on Tuesday night.
However, the party has not announced ticket for Hubballi-Dharwad Central Assembly Constituency which is represented by Mr. Shettar, leaving the Shettar camp in a dilemma.
Mr. Shettar has already made it clear that he will contest from the constituency. He has requested the party high command to “treat a former Chief Minister with respect” and allow him to contest again. However, the party high command seems to be weighing its options again and is yet to announce the name of any candidate for the Central Assembly constituency.
The party has retained the names of sitting MLAs Shankar Patil Munenakoppa (Navalgund), Arvind Bellad (Hubballi-Dharwad West) and Amrut Desai (Dharwad) in Dharwad district. It has given M.R. Patil another chance to contest from Kundgol and has chosen Kranti Kiran, a new face, to contest from Hubballi-Dharwad East now represented by Congress’ Prasad Abbayya.
