The notification for Rajya Sabha polls seems to have come as a surprise to many and lobbying for the two berths in the Upper House that the BJP can win from the State, is yet to pick up.
The core committee meeting of the State unit, scheduled for June 6, will be the first time the party will discuss probable candidates before recommending names to the high command. Of the four members retiring from RS, BJP has only one member — senior politician from Belagavi, Prabhakar Kore. However, given how the numbers are presently decked up, BJP can win two seats unopposed.
Sources in the party said that one of the two seats will probably go to a candidate of the high command’s choice, probably an outsider to the State. The only person yet to make a public bid for a berth is Ramesh Katti, former MP and brother of Umesh Katti, a ministerial aspirant and dissenter. “We have reminded the Chief Minister of his promise to send me to RS,” Mr. Katti told The Hindu two days ago.
Mr. Kore, who retires now, is also an aspirant for re-election. Meanwhile, the names of several others have emerged — BJP State vice-presidents Tejaswini Ananthkumar from Bengaluru and M. Nagaraj from Hubballi, media and transport baron Vijay Sankeshwar, and hospitality industry bigwig K. Prakash Shetty, sources said.
“The CM is keen on one of the two seats going to a Lingayat, while his pick remains shrouded in a mystery. As several Lingayat MLAs seem to have raised a banner of revolt against him, it is key that a seat vacated by a Lingayat is given to a Lingayat,” said a close associate of the CM. However, he has reportedly told the Katti brothers to pick one of the two — a ministry to Mr. Umesh or a RS seat to Mr. Ramesh, a proposition the Katti brothers have not agreed to.
Ms. Tejaswini Ananthkumar is learnt to be lobbying hard for the seat. “Party workers and leaders feel the party owes her one and she has turned a candidate for almost all posts that have come up — RS, Legislative Council and even boards and corporations,” a BJP leader said. For the second seat, BJP general secretary in-charge of Karnataka P. Muralidhara Rao is said to be a strong aspirant making a case for himself that BJP emerged as the single largest party just short of majority in 2018 Assembly polls and scored an unprecedented 25 of 28 seats in 2019 Parliament elections, when he was in-charge of the party in the State.
While the core committee meeting will recommend multiple names on Saturday, the final decision will be taken by the high command in Delhi, sources in the party said.
Katti meets CM
Senior MLA and ministerial aspirant Umesh Katti, who recently hosted a dinner meet for several dissident MLAs, met Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday, during morning walk. The two were alone and discussed several issues for nearly an hour, details of which remain unknown.
The meeting comes a day after the Chief Minister appointed Ramesh Jarkiholi, a recent defector from Congress, as the district in-charge Minister of Belagavi, the home district of Mr. Katti. While Mr. Katti and another dissident MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal are known to have refused to meet the Chief Minister for talks earlier, the morning walk meeting is seen as a sign of back channel efforts to reinitiate talks. Mr. Katti is learnt to be adamant of his brother Ramesh Katti securing a berth in Rajya Sabha in the upcoming polls, while he has to be made a Minister in the State Cabinet.