Decision on Ballari candidate soon: Shettar

Former chief minister and party’s in-charge of Ballari district, Jagadish Shettar stated that the candidate for Ballari Lok Sabha constituency would be finalised shortly.

Speasking to reporters after attending a meeting with the local leaders at the residence of MLA G Somashekhar Reddy in Ballari on Wednesday, he said, the candidate would be finalised at the core committee meeting to be held on March 15.

He made it clear that the elections would be held under the leadership of MLA B Sriramulu, and the candidate would be finalised after considering his suggestions. At present, there are five to six aspirants for the ticket, he said, but refused to divulge their names.

He expressed confidence that BJP would win with a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha elections despite losing the by-election held to the seat just a few months ago. He referred to the earlier comebacks made by the BJP after losing in the by-elections held in Nanjanagudu and Gunlupet.

“The contest would be between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others in the country. The proponents of Mahaghatabhandan are not ready to accept Rahul Gandhi as their prime minister candidate. On the other hand, Modi is the sole candidate from the BJP for the prime minister’s post,” Shettar said.

He said, there is utter lack of understanding between the coalition partners over the seat sharing. “There is confusion regarding giving up some of the seats. Why H D Revanna not seeking apology even after widespread criticisms over remarks against Sumalatha? The people of Mandya are ready to give a befitting reply to his despicable behaviour. Even A Manju has issued statements against the coalition government,” he said.

He predicted that after the elections either the Congress would withdraw the support or H D Kumaraswamy would resign and come out of the coalition, and added that Kumaraswamy would not have faced so many problems had he entered into an understanding with the BJP.

MLAs N Y Gopalkrishna, M S Somalingappa, leaders Ramalingappa, Amaranath Patil, and Mrityunjaya Jinaga were present. Devendrappa, one of the aspirants for the BJP ticket to contest from Ballari, attended the meeting held at MLA G Somashekhar Reddy’s residence, but skipped the press meet by Shettar

Shettar did not give a clear answer when asked about party giving ticket to Devendrappa.