BJP’s first list of nominees on March 16: BSY

The BJP would finalise its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on March 16, said BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday.

He also said that all the 16 sitting MPs were likely to get tickets.

Addressing the media in Bengaluru, Yeddyurappa said that following the BJP core committee meeting on March 15 and 16, he would travel to New Delhi to meet the central leaders. He said that the central leadership might announce the first list of 20 to 22 seats (out of the 28 LS seats) on that day.

Terming the Congress-JD(S) rule in Karnataka as ‘Tughlaq Darbar’, Yeddyurappa said that the coalition partners lacked understanding, which would turn out to be an advantage to the BJP. He reiterated that his party was confident of winning around 22 seats.

He said that people of the state were fed up with the coalition government because of misgovernance. He said that more than 20 Congress MLAs were opposing Kumaraswamy’s leadership and were unwilling to accept him as the chief minister. The BJP state president said that JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had attracted public outrage for trying to field his family members in the elections.

Replying to a query on Sumalatha Ambareesh, Yeddyurappa said that the party was awaiting her decision. He said that Sumalatha might announce her decision in a day or two, following which the party would take a final call on the matter.

He also said that it was condemnable the manner in which Sumalatha has been sidelined by the chief minister, who, he said had gone to great lengths to take the mortal remains of her late husband Ambareesh to Mandya, for the people to pay their last respects to the actor-turned-politician.

Sumalatha is still waiting for the Congress to communicate to her whether or not she will be the party’s candidate from Mandya. In the event she contests as an Independent candidate, the BJP is likely to extend external support to her.

When asked about Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar not having accepted the resignation of rebel Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav yet, the former CM said that this would’nt create any hurdle to the latter from contesting the elections. Jadhav tendered his resignation as Congress MLA on March 4 and had joined the BJP. He is the BJP’s candidate from the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency.

DH News Service