In an embarrassment to the party State unit as well as veteran leader B. S. Yediyurappa, the BJP high command has rejected the recommendation by the party’s State core committee to field his son B. Y. Vijayendra for elections to the Legislative Council in Karnataka.
The central leadership of the BJP, which is in a position to win four of the seven Council seats going by its numerical strength in the Assembly, has instead chosen to field former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, former party office secretary Keshav Prasad, Dalit leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy and party State secretary Hemalatha Nayak.
The announcement of the list of candidates was made hours before the deadline for filing nominations ended.
As expected, the party announced the candidature of former Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti for the elections to the Council from West Teachers’ constituency. Mr. Horatti had recently quit the MLC seat won on a JD(S) ticket as well as the chairman’s post to join the BJP.
A section of the BJP leaders were pushing for Mr. Vijayendra’s candidature for the MLC elections as that would pave the way for his inclusion in the Karnataka ministry. They were of the view that Mr. Vijayendra becoming a minister would not only help in development of an alternative leadership, but would also help in keeping the support base of Lingayats intact. Mr. Yediyurappa’s next move is being closely watched as he too was part of the core committee that recommended his son’s name for the MLC ticket.
Sources in the party say that not giving the MLC ticket would not mean end of the road for Mr. Vijayendra as he is still in the reckoning for a ticket for the 2023 Assembly elections. Also, the party central leadership is said to be particular about not giving multiple tickets within a family. Apart from Mr. Yediyurappa, who is an MLA, his elder son B. Y. Raghavendra represents Shivamogga in Parliament.
However, this is being seen as a setback for Mr. Yediyurappa by a section of BJP leaders, particularly because two candidates – Keshav Prasad and Laxman Savadi – who are close to party national functionary B. L. Santosh, with whom Mr. Yediyurappa had a troubled relationship, have made it to the list of candidates.
Meanwhile, JD(S) leader T. A. Saravana filed his nomination papers soon after party State president C. M. Ibrahim announced his name as the candidate for the elections to the Council. Given its numerical strength, the JD(S) can win one seat of the total seven for which elections are being held on June 3.
The Congress, which can win two seats, had announced the names of its candidates on May 23: Nagaraju Yadav and Abdul Jabbar.
