The dearth of candidates continues to plague all three major political parties in Karnataka. However, the BJP on Thursday released its first list of 21 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, while holding back the names for the remaining seven seats.
While 14 out of the 15 incumbent MPs have been renominated (Koppal MP Karadi Sanganna's name does not figure in the first list), three party-hoppers too have been given tickets by the BJP.
Union Ministers D.V. Sadanand Gowda (Bengaluru North), Anantkumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada) and Ramesh Jigajinagi (Vijayapura) are among the sitting MPs.
The new faces include Congress rebels who jumped ship to the BJP at different times. Dr Umesh Jadhav—the legislator from Chincholi who resigned from the assembly membership recently—will now take on Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalburgi. Another Congress leader, Arkalgud Manju, will contest from Hassan, the stronghold of the JD(S). This time, Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, has been named the JD(S)-Congress alliance candidate from Hassan.
The BJP is trying to make good of its loss in the previous bypoll in Ballari by fielding party-hopper Devendrappa, who belongs to the powerful Nayak community. Devendrappa is the father-in-law of Congress minister and Yamakanamaradi MLA Satish Jarkiholi.
Old warhorse and dalit leader V. Srinivas Prasad (who too had quit the Congress in 2016 after being dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet) will be contesting from Chamrajnagar, and former MP
G.S. Basavaraju will contest from Tumkur. BJP leaders Anekal Narayanaswamy and Bachche Gowda will contest from Chitradurga and Chikballapur, respectively.
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Interestingly, the BJP is yet to announce the candidate for Bengaluru South. Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of late Union minister H.N. Ananth Kumar (who represented the constituency), is likely to be the candidate.
The BJP is yet to nominate the candidates for six other seats: Koppal, Raichur, Chikkodi, Bengaluru Rural, Mandya and Kolar.
The BJP is most likely to extend support to Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is contesting as an independent from Mandya after being denied a Congress ticket. She will be taking on Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the chief minister's son, who is the candidate of the JD(S)-Congress alliance.
