Bypolls: Suspense on who will get BJP’s Belgaum ticket

The BJP core committee on Saturday authorized state president Nalin Kumar Kateel to finalize tickets for the upcoming bypolls, even as there seems to be no consensus on who the candidate should be for the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat.

A section of party leaders is of the opinion that the Belgaum ticket should be given to someone from the late Suresh Angadi’s family. Angadi was a union minister when he died September last, necessitating the bypoll.

Speculation is rife that Angadi’s daughter Shradha is in the race for the ticket, alongside Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath and Dr Girish Sonwalkar, a medical professional who is said to have RSS roots.

“We don’t know what the central leadership will decide,” BJP national general secretary CT Ravi told reporters after the core committee meeting. “The aspiration of (Angadi’s) family has been conveyed.”

Revenue Minister R Ashoka also told reporters that Angadi’s family cannot be ignored. “The family has been with the BJP for a long time. Having said that, the BJP has always preferred loyal party workers (for tickets),” he said.

Bypolls for the Belgaum Lok Sabha, Maski and Basavakalyan assembly seats are scheduled on April 17. Ravi said Kateel had been authorized to recommend the list of candidates to the party’s central leadership.

For Maski, the BJP is most likely to field disqualified MLA Pratapgouda Patil. He won the 2018 polls on a Congress ticket, but defected to the BJP leading to his disqualification and this bypoll. “Naturally, (Patil) was the sitting MLA who resigned and came (to the BJP). He has to be given justice, given that he’s been nowhere for the past two years,” Ravi said.

In Basavakalyan, the BJP core committee is said to have discussed the possibility of fielding the party’s vice-president and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra as the candidate. Also, former MLA Mallikarjun Khuba is being considered, sources said.

The core committee is said to have decided to recommend the ticket probables in two days’ time to the central leadership.