Thumbs down for a few sitting MPs at Karnataka BJP meet

The two-day marathon meeting of the BJP called to discuss candidates for the Lok Sabha elections saw opposition to renominating some of the sitting party MPs in the state.

On Thursday, a section of party leaders reportedly expressed reservations about renominating Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru and former union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituencies, respectively. 

“A section of workers said Karandlaje and Hegde remained inaccessible after winning elections. Therefore, they want fresh faces,” sources said.

Leaders expressed disapproval to nominating ‘outsiders’ for Chickballapur and Haveri Lok Sabha constituencies, where former ministers Dr K Sudhakar and B C Patil have shown interest to contest, respectively. 

Some opposed the idea of fielding the sons of Davangere MP G M Siddeshwara and former minister Govind Karjol from Davangere and Bijapur, respectively.

At this juncture, BJP veteran Yediyurappa intervened and asserted that this meeting was convened to elicit opinions and no names will be finalised here, as everything is decided by the party high command. 

State BJP president B Y Vijayendra confirmed that a few sitting MPs, who had earlier announced retirement from electoral politics, now want to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He saw this as a sign that the BJP is going to win the elections. 

Later, he told reporters that the BJP had put the defeat in the Assembly elections behind and was full of confidence for the Lok Sabha polls. 

“The Congress was saying it will win 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. Now, every other day, their ministers are refusing to contest the elections,” he said. 

He said the party would approach the court against the Congress government’s decision to accord Cabinet status to party workers who will head the state-level committee for implementation of guarantees.

Vijayendra said he would visit Delhi soon to appeal to the party high command to finalise candidates by the end January or by mid-February. 

Azeem seeks ticket in B’luru

BJP leader and former chairman of the Karnataka State Minorities’ Commission, Abdul Azeem, has urged the party to consider him as a candidate in one of the three Lok Sabha seats in Bengaluru.