BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday claimed that even Karnataka ministers are hesitant to contest the Lok Sabha election due to “fear of defeat”, as so far the Congress has named just seven candidates out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the BJP has announced 20.
Notably, in the 2019 parliamentary polls, the Congress has won just one seat in the state. D K Suresh, MP and brother of Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D K Shivakumar, will contest again from Bengaluru Rural constituency. He is currently the lone Congress MP from Karnataka.
“The Congress party was not finding candidates to contest the coming parliamentary polls due to fear of defeat. Even the ministers are hesitant to contest. The reality is that the Congress Party does not have the candidates to fight the elections”, he said after meeting former CM and BJP Central Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa.
Speaking about the BJP announcing the names of the candidates, Bommai said, “The party bosses have announced the list of candidates only after a thorough discussion. Yediyurappa had always blessed me in politics and I came to meet him to seek his blessings again. The veteran leader has promised to campaign”.
The Congress has announced 7 candidates out of 28 parliamentary seats of the state, while the BJP has announced 20 names so far.
Bommai and three former ministers are among the candidates named by the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Currently an MLA, Bommai served as chief minister from July 2021 to May 2023. He is fielded from the Haveri constituency. His cabinet colleagues B Sriramulu (Bellary), Kota Srinivas Poojary (Udupi-Chikmagalur) and V Somanna (Tumkur) are also on the list. Sitting MPs Tejasvi Surya and PC Mohan are fielded again from the Bangalore South and Bangalore Central constituencies, respectively.
The JD(S) has managed to have one of its candidates fight elections on a BJP ticket. The saffron party has fielded Dr CN Manjunath, son-in-law of JD(S) supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. In the Davangere constituency, the BJP has fielded Gayathri Siddeshwara, wife of sitting MP GM Siddeshwara. It has not announced candidates for the Belgaum, Uttara Kannada, Chitradurga, Raichur and Chikkaballapur constituencies.
“This year, the selection of candidates had been unique. Dr C N Manjunath has saved the lives of lakhs of people and his selection had sent a message that those who work well would be duly awarded in the party. Giving a ticket to Yaduveeer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from the Mysuru-Kodagu constituency had sent a good message to the whole of South Karnataka. If South India had developed, the credit goes to the Wadiyar Dynasty. They had uplifted the backward classes also. The entire South Karnataka was happy to give Yaduveeer the Lok Sabha ticket. Such decisions are possible only in BJP”, Bommai added. (ANI)