Shanthakumari may get ticket other ex mayors fume

Venkatesh Murthy blames Ashoka, Ravi Subramanya for being left out

Of the five former BJP mayors of the previous BBMP council, only N Shanthakumari may secure a ticket to contest the BBMP elections.

While ticket has been denied to three former mayors D Venkatesh Murthy, Sharadamma and S K Nataraj, another former mayor B S Satyanarayana’s (Katte Satyanarayana’s) fate in active politics hangs in balance.

Shanthakumari’s name figures prominently in the second list of candidates released by the BJP on Saturday. She will be contesting the poll from Maruthi Mandir ward. In the previous council, she had represented Moodalapalya ward.

Enraged with the denial of ticket, former Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy went all guns blazing against MLAs R Ashoka and Ravi Subramanya.

Murthy blamed the duo for blocking his chances of securing a ticket. He said that since he is from the Kuruba community, Ashoka and Subramanya removed his name from the list of candidates.

“As per the reservation list, I should have been given the ticket. I had also requested senior party leaders for the ticket. The ticket was not even given to any party worker from the ward, instead Sangati Venkatesh from the neighbouring ward has got it. Initially, there was news that former mayors will not be considered this time. This proved wrong since Shanthakumari has been fielded. Another former Mayor S K Nataraj’s wife has been given the ticket. Both Ashok and Subramanya have personal grudge against me and Satyanarayana. In Srinagar ward, the MLA’s housemaid has been given the ticket. I have called a meeting of party workers and they have decided to stage a protest at Vidyapeetha junction and present a memorandum to the senior party leaders,’’ Murthy said.

Katte still hopeful

Katte Satyanarayana has kept his fingers crossed with a strong belief that the party will reward him with a ticket just like it did with Shanthakumari. The Basavanagudi ward strongman is learnt to have been lobbying very hard to get the green signal to contest.

Many former corporators who secured a ticket for themselves are Dr Raju (Attiguppe), T V Krishna (Bapuji Nagar ward), Sangati Venkatesh (Katriguppe), former deputy mayor L Srinivas (Kumaraswamy Layout), K V Munindra Kumar (Jakkur), Ashwath Narayana Gowda (Kodigehalli) and Vijaya Ramesh (Vasanthapura).


Second list delayed

The BJP had finalised its second list on Thursday itself. But the party did not release the list due to the fear of unrest among its party ranks. Differences have already cropped up among leaders over the names in the first list of 96 candidates. A few aspirants had even hit the streets for being denied party tickets to contest the polls. The party faces a challenge while finalising candidates for the remaining 45 seats as there is immense pressure on the party top leaders from their supporters to get tickets for them to contest.