Krishnaraja BJP MLA S.A. Ramdas. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Sitting BJP MLA from Krishnaraja S.A. Ramdas’s wait for the ticket is getting longer as the party has put on hold the announcement of candidate for the constituency in Mysuru city. The party announced candidates for the nine constituencies except Krishnaraja and H.D. Kote in Mysuru district. Suspense over the BJP ticket is building up even as the filing of nomination papers for the elections begins from Thursday.
While Mr. Ramdas, who also served as a Minister, has begun campaigning in hopes of getting the ticket, the party, which announced candidates for 189 seats on Tuesday evening, kept the Krishnaraja, a Brahmin-dominated constituency, pending like a few other constituencies.
Will Mr. Ramdas get the ticket? Or will the party pick up a new face?
In the first list, the party has picked up 52 new candidates and also denied tickets to some sitting MLAs as well.
The BJP is not alone in having kept the ticket aspirants guessing on the candidate as the Congress too has not announced its candidate for Krishnaraja because of multiple aspirants.
The BJP has announced candidates for the two other constituencies in Mysuru city: Chamaraja – sitting MLA L. Nagendra and Narasimharaja – Sandesh Swamy. Mr. Ramdas, the party loyalist, is seeking reelection having won the constituency in the 2018 election. Mr. Ramdas had won from the constituency in 1994, 1999, 2008 and 2018 polls.
Diverse opinions are learnt have emerged over Mr. Ramdas’ candidature with some of the party loyalists, who had supported Mr. Ramdas in the last election, opposing his candidature and seeking a new face. Besides Brahmins, Lingayats are also in sizable numbers in the constituency.
Prior to the announcement of elections, a few members of Mysuru District Brahmins’ Association led by D.T. Prakash and others sought a change and urged the BJP to drop Mr. Ramdas and instead field a new candidate belonging to the community. They accused Mr. Ramdas of not working for the community and taking the community into confidence. They categorically said they will not work for Mr. Ramdas in the election.
Though Mr. Ramdas refuted the allegations and stated that a handful of people do not constitute the entire community, former MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev, a Brahmin, is a strong aspirant for the BJP ticket and is said to be lobbying as he is learnt to have the support of a section of BJP leaders.
A party source said, “In Krishnaraja too, opinions were collected from the party workers on the candidate. The party will act on its survey report and accordingly take a decision. There were differing opinions on Mr. Ramdas’ candidature among the party workers and the same was communicated to the party. A new candidate appears imminent considering the party’s move.”
Besides Mr. Rajeev, City BJP president Srivatsa, also a Brahmin, is another key contender for the party ticket. “It is a matter of time as the party has made up its mind on the candidate for Krishnaraja and will be announced in the next 48 hours,” the source added.
Among the sitting MLAs in Mysuru region, all of them except Mr. Ramdas have got the ticket:: Mr. L. Nagendra and Harshavardhan in Mysuru district; Narayana Gowda in K.R. Pet in Mandya and Niranjan Kumar in Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar. Mahesh has also got the ticket in Kollegal.
Multiple claimants for the ticket have delayed announcement of candidate for H.D. Kote (reserved).
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