Candidate lists for Council polls trigger party hopping, dissidence

Hulinaiker quits JD(S), to contest as BJP nominee from Tumakuru

 Rebellion gripped the JD(S) on Sunday as the party released its first list of 12 candidates for the December 27 Legislative Council polls from the local bodies constituencies.

JD(S) sitting MLC M R Hulinaiker, elected from the Tumakuru local authorities constituency, quit the party in a huff for being denied a ticket and joined the BJP.

Hulinaiker joined the BJP in the presence of State party president Pralhad Joshi and Tumakuru Rural MLA Sureshgowda. He will contest from Tumakuru on a BJP ticket. 

Earlier, the BJP was planning to field Poornima, a sitting corporator in Bengaluru, to contest from Tumakuru.

She is the daughter of former JD(S) State president and minister A Krishnappa.
The JD(S) has given the party ticket for Tumakuru to Kantharaj, son of slain Congress Zilla Panchayat member BEML Krishnappa. Krishnappa was shot dead by gangsters on the busy Tumkuru Road in 2012.

There are three film producers in the JD(S)’ list: Sandesh Nagaraj (from Mysuru), E Krishnappa (of Mungaru Male fame from Bengaluru Rural) and C R Manohar (Kolar).

Nagaraj and E Krishnappa are sitting MLCs. Manohar is the producer of several films including the recent Shivarajkumar-starrer ‘Vajrakaya’. He contested unsuccessfully on a JD(S) ticket in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Chikkaballapur constituency.

Other candidates announced by the JD(S) on Sunday include: Patel Shivaram (sitting MLC from Hassan), H N Niranjan (Shivammogga), Naresh Kumar (Kodagu), Ajith Kumar (Chikkamagalur), S Prakash Shetty and Praveen Chandra Jain (Dakshina Kannada), L Somanna (Chitradurga) and Devegowda Tellur (Kalaburagi).

In BJP

The BJP finalised eight more names for the Council polls. The list was sent to the party’s central election committee on Sunday for approval. The party has already announced its candidates for 12 seats.

Sanjay Kheny, brother of MLA and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) Managing Director Ashok Kheny, is likely to be given the ticket to contest from Bidar local authorities’ constituency.

Other candidates include: K Naganna Gowda (Mandya), B H Renukumar (Hassan), Channabasavana Gowda (Ballari), N Hanumanthegowda (Bengaluru Rural), G E Ramegowda (Kolar), Dodda Basavaraju (Bengaluru Urban).

In Congress

Dissidence continued in the Congress with those being denied a party ticket staying firm that they would contest as independents.

Former MP Jayaprakash Hegde has decided to file his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Dakshina Kannada-Udupi constituency on Monday.

Hegde is unhappy that the party ticket has been given to his rival Pratapchandra Shetty. The war of words between sitting MLC from Bengaluru Urban constituency Dayananda Reddy and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has continued.

Dayananda has blamed Ramalinga Reddy for denying him the ticket and even accused that the latter was indulging in corruption.

KPCC president G Parameshwara said the party will give two days’ time for the rebels to withdraw their candidature, failing which disciplinary action will be initiated against them.
December 12 is the last date for withdrawing the candidatures.

The party is yet finalise its candidate from Kolar. Two former union ministers, M Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa, are vying for tickets to their followers.