BENGALURU: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) releasing the first list of candidates for 189 out of the 224 seats for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, the party fielded former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao from the Chamrajpet constituency.
A day before filing nomination for Karnataka Assembly elections, the former Bengaluru police commissioner on Wednesday offered prayers at Sri Dodda Ganapathi temple in the city.
Nomination filing for the state assembly elections will begin on Thursday, April 13.
“There is a need to bring about change in the lives of people. I will reach out to people from house to house and urge them to vote as the voting percentage is low in urban centres. During my tenure as police commissioner, I along with my force protected people as per the Constitution,” Rao told ANI after visiting the temple.
Meanwhile, supporters of sitting BJP MLA from Belagavi North, Anil Benake staged a protest on Tuesday evening after he was denied a ticket in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.
Further, supporters of BJP MLA Mahadevappa Yadawad protested in Ramdurg constituency in Belagavi over the ticket being denied to him. Chikka Revana who joined the BJP recently got the ticket from the constituency.
BJP on Tuesday released the first list of candidates for 189 seats out of 224 seats for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections with 52 new candidates getting tickets.
While addressing the press conference BJP’s national general secretary Arun Singh said, “52 new faces, eight women, nine doctors, five lawyers, one retired IPS officer, three retired government employees and eight social activists have been given tickets.
He further mentioned that Vijendran who is the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has also been given the ticket.
State Ministers – Shashikala Jolai, R Ashok, Prabho Chauhan, Shankar Muniyakappa, Muniratna, ST Somashekar, VC Patil, Varity Vasuraj, Murgesh Nirani, CC Patil, Sunil Kumar, Shivram Hebbar have been given tickets.
State Assembly Speaker Vishwaser Hegde has been given the ticket.
“V Somanna MLA from Govindraj Nagar has been given a ticket from Chamaraj Nagar and Varuna Assembly. It will directly challenge Congress leader Siddaramaiah,” he added.
In this list, tickets have been given to Lingayat-51, Vokkalinga-41, Kurba-7, SC-30, ST-16 and 32 from the OBC community.
According to BJP sources, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has started showing a rebellious attitude and has been called to Delhi.
“Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has started showing a rebellious attitude. In fact, the party’s high command is not in favour of fielding him, but Shettar does not agree. He has been called to Delhi. Shettar will be asked to work for the party. It is unlikely he will get a ticket for the upcoming elections ” party sources said.
BJP sources also mentioned that the wife of the late union minister Ananth Kumar will not get a ticket in the upcoming elections.
“No ticket will be given to Tejaswini Ananth Kumar but she may be given a larger role in the organisation in the time to come,” sources said.
The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled on May 13. (ANI)