Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday recommended the name of B.Y.Raghavendra, son of former chief minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, as the candidate for Shivamogga Lok Sabha by-elections, which would help the latter retain hold over the district in the run-up to the next year’s Parliamentary polls.
The party, which concluded its core committee meeting late on Tuesday, said it had also finalised J.Shantha, the sister of Ballari strongman, B.Sriramulu, as the candidate from the mineral-rich district. The party nominated Shrikant Subarao Kulkarni as its candidate from the Jamkhandi Assembly constituency, where the BJP had lost to Siddu Bhimappa Nyamgoud by a margin of less than 3,000 votes. Nyamgoud had died in a road accident in May, leaving the seat vacant. The Congress is likely to nominate Nyamgoud’s son.
Arvind Limbavali, general secretary of the state BJP, on Tuesday said the names will be sent to the National Election Committee for their approval. The BJP’s candidate list came out after the election authorities announced that the by-polls for the three Lok Sabha constituencies and two Assembly seats would be held on 3 November.
The BJP, however, was yet to nominate candidates for the Mandya Parliament seat and the Ramanagaram constituency, which was vacated by Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy, who had successfully contested from two seats.
The by-polls for the three Lok Sabha constituencies, lying vacant since MPs resigned after successfully contesting in the Assembly polls, was expected to last only for a few months before the general elections next year.
Limbavali said that Yeddyurappa will take into account the political development in these two constituencies before naming a candidate. The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S), who came together in a post-poll alliance to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka, will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together. The BJP, which does not enjoy much support in both the Vokkaliga-dominated seats, is hoping some defectors would switch sides.
Though the JD(S) is yet to make it official, Kumaraswamy’s wife, Anitha Kumaraswamy is the likely candidate from Ramanagaram, a stronghold for the regional outfit, led by former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda.
The two Assembly by-polls could help the JD(S)-Congress coalition get stronger or tip the scales in favour of the BJP, who needs just nine seats to get a simple majority in the 224-seat house. The Congress has 81 seats, including the support of two independents, the JD(S) has 37, which includes one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator, while the BJP has 104 legislators.