After much heartburn, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is said to have zeroed in on Lok Sabha MP B Sriramulu as its candidate against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Badami assembly constituency in North Karnataka. The party is still struggling to find a candidate and to take on Siddaramaiah’s son Yatindra in the Varuna constituency in South Karnataka.

The BJP released its fourth list on Monday, and was initially silent on its candidates for Badami and Varuna. BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra was seen touring the constituency, meeting the voters in the Varuna constituency till yesterday. But Yeddyurappa said on Monday that his son would not contest.

Badami is the second constituency for the CM as he has also filed his nomination from Chamundeshwari and is expected to take on GT Devegowda of the (JDS).

After weighing the pros and cons, the BJP central leadership is said to have decided to field Sriramalu from the Badami constituency, which is in Bagalkot district. Sriramulu had earlier filed his nomination papers from Molakalmuru constituency in Chitradurga district.

Varuna confusion

The commotion over the Varuna candidature started on Monday when Yeddyurappa, who was campaigning in Nanjangud, announced that his son Vijayendra would not be filing his nomination for Varuna and instead a common man would be given a chance.

“The BJP is frantically searching for candidates and is taking the help of the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) or are in a secret alliance,” said Veerappa Moily, Congress party manifesto committee chairman and former union minister. “We are treating JDS as a non-factor in this election. We see the party (JDS) is in the process of disintegration and has no mass base in Karnataka,” he added.

Cong will do well: Moily

Moily sharing the findings of the Congress party’s internal survey and assessment, and said: “The Congress is expected to do well in 147-150 seats of the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.” But he was sure that the party will retain power by winning at least 130 seats.

Commenting on the highly polarised BJP ruled states in the North, Moily said the BJP has no base in South India, including in Karnataka, as these States are secular and there is no place for a communal party such as the BJP.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party National President Amit Shah or the BJP have no space in Karnataka and this party has no chance of winning power in the Assembly elections. It came to power earlier due to an accident and accident is always an accident.” he added

Related Topics