Political activity picked up across the state on Thursday as several senior leaders filed their nomination papers for the state Assembly elections.
Prominent among the political bigwigs who filed their nomination papers included BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa in Shikaripur of Shivamogga district, Congress leader and Energy Minister D K Shiva Kumar in Kanakapura and BJP’s K S Eshwarappa in Shivamogga and R Ashoka in Padmanabhanagar in Bengaluru.
Ministers T B Jayachandra in Tumakuru, K R Ramesh Kumar in Srinivaspur in Kolar district, A Manju from Arkalgud in Hassan district and B Ramanath Rai in Bantwal filed nomination papers as Congress candidates.
In Shikaripur, Yeddyurappa was accompanied by several BJP leaders for filing his nomination. They included Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Union Minister Ananth Kumar, BJP nominee from Molakalmur B Sriramulu, MP G M Siddeshwara and son and MLA B Y Raghavendra.
Speaking to media persons after filing nomination papers, the former chief minister said he was confident that he would win the Shikaripur seat by a margin of 50,000 votes. “Voters of the constituency are electing the next chief minister of Karnataka and not just an MLA. I will tour 150 Assembly constituencies across the state shortly”, he remarked.
The CM candidate made it clear that there was no pre-poll alliance with the JD(S).
The district also saw BJP leader Eshwarappa filing nomination from Shivamogga Urban constituency. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and many local leaders accompanied the backward classes leader. In Kanakapura, Shiva Kumar was accompanied by his family members including his wife Usha and brother and Bangaluru Rural MP D K Suresh.
Sitting MLA of Sorab, Madhu Bangarappa filed nomination papers as JD(S) candidate. More than 25,000 workers participated in the procession. He said he was confident of emerging victorious by a huge margin. Former minister Kimmane Ratnakara filed his papers from Thirthahalli as Congress candidate.
While most candidates were accompanied by their followers in massive processions, Health Minister Ramesh Kumar struck a different chord as he was accompanied only by the block Congress president Akbar Shareef. There was neither a procession nor raising of slogans in his favour as he filed his papers. Other candidates who filed their papers included: G K Venkatashiva Reddy from JD (S) for Srinivaspur; Roopa Shashidhar, daughter of MP and former minister K H Muniyappa for Congress from KGF, M Krishna Reddy from JD(S) for Chintamani; V Muniyappa from Congress for Sidlaghatta
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