Karnataka BJP Minister and six-time MLA Angara S on Wednesday announced his retirement from active politics after he was denied a ticket by the party for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Angara S, an MLA from Sullia in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, was denied a ticket to contest from the same constituency with the BJP announcing a Scheduled Castes candidate Bhagirathi Murulya in his stead.

On April 11, the BJP announced its first list of 189 candidates for the Karnataka elections followed by a second list of 23 candidates on April 12. Angara was not named in either list.

Responding to the party denying him a ticket for the upcoming polls, Angara said he was shocked and claimed that that his honesty became his undoing.

The Minister said he was retiring from active politics effective immediately and also will not campaign for the BJP in the upcoming elections.

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Talking to newsmen, Angara said he was never much for lobbying and is quitting politics and the party can take care of the new candidate themselves as he will not campaign in the Karnataka Assembly elections.

The BJP announced as many as 52 fresh faces in the party first list of candidates which includes 32 candidates from the OBC community and 30 from the Scheduled Caste community.

The saffron party in its second list of candidates replaced as many as 7 sitting MLAs, including Angara S, however, the party has yet to announce its list of candidates for 12 constituencies including that of Hubli Dharwad Central, Krishnaraja, Shivamogga, Mahadevpura etc.

Nagaraja Chabbi, who joined the BJP after quitting the Congress, will contest on the party’s ticket from Kalghatgi constituency, while ex-MLA Y Sampangi’s daughter Ashwini Sampangi has been fielded by the party from the Kolar gold fields (KGF).

Assembly Elections in Karnataka will be held in a single phase on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13.

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The BJP on Wednesday announced its list of candidates for the upcoming Parliamentary and Assembly bypolls in Punjab and Odisha.

The saffron party’s Central Election Committee on Wednesday evening announced Sardar Indar Iqbal Singh Atwal and Tankadhar Tripathy for the Jalandhar (SC) and Jharsuguda bypoll respectively.

Bypolls in the Odisha’s Assembly constituency of Jharsuguda and Punjab’s Lok Sabha constituency of Jalandhar (SC) coincide with the Karnataka Assembly elections as both bypolls will be held on May 10 and the results will be declared on May 13.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat has been vacant since the demise of Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary who passed away due to a heart attack on January 14 while participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra along side Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

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The Jharsuguda Assembly seat has been vacant since the January 29 assassination of then Odisha Health Minister Naba Das, who was shot dead by at point-blank range by a policeman.

BJP’s Sardar Indar Iqbal Singh Atwal will contest the Jalandhar seat against the deceased Congress MP’s wife Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary who was named by the grand-old party as its candidate for the bypolls.

Former Congress leader Sushil Rinku, who was kicked out of the party for “anti-party activities”, and later on April 5 joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, will contest on AAP’s ticket in the Jalandhar bypolls.

In Odisha’s Jharsuguda, BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy will contest against BJD’s Dipali Das and Congress candidate Tarun Pandey.

In a statement last month, Congress said that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypolls.

Bypolls in Odisha and Punjab are being viewed as a test of strength for the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

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Thursday, the former deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka Laxman Savadi resigned from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party after being denied ticket.

The BJP last night released its first list of 189 candidates for the Karnataka assembly elections scheduled for 10^th May, 2023. In the list there was no mention of Savadi’s name.

Laxman Savadi was a senior leader of the BJP Karnataka unit who served as the deputy chief minister when B.S. Yediyurappa sat on the Chief Minister’s seat in 2019 after H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Savadi considered being one of Yediyurappa loyalist was the most prominent Lingayat face of BJP after the latter, he contested the 2018 state polls from the Athani constituency against Congress’s Mahesh Kumtahalli who won the seat.

Kumtahalli was one of the rebel MLAs who left their party and joined hands with BJP that help form its government under Yediyurappa in 2019.

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The BJP on late on Wednesday denied Laxman Savadi’s ticket and went on to choose Kumtahalli as the most favourable candidate for the Athani constituency.

BJP sidelined Savadi had been applying pressure over the party high command for ticket for a long time but the pressure went vague. Addressing the reporters Savadi said that for the decision of the people of Athani constituency is the priority than the party’s decision and that he will take a final decision tomorrow post discussion with his supporters.

Savadi has convened a meeting of his supporters on Thursday to take a decision on his future path.

There are speculations about Laxman Savadi probability of joining Congress but Karnataka state Congress working president Satish Jarkiholi giving clarification said there was no such discussion on senior level and nothing about it has not to his knowledge yet.

Of the 189 candidates that were announced by the BJP, 52 are new entrants who have assigned tickets. The list includes 32 OBC candidates, 30 SC candidates, and 16 ST candidates.

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