New Delhi, Apr 13 (FN Bureau) BJP has dropped seven sitting MLAs including its tainted legislator Madal Virupashappa in the second list ahead of the May 10 assembly election in Karnataka.This is a strategy to field fresh faces.In the first list, the BJP fielded 52 new faces out of the 189 names of candidates announced on April 11. The second list of 23 candidates was announced late on Wednesday night. The party has denied ticket to Virupakshappa from the Channagiri assembly constituency, who has been arrested in a bribery case. Other sitting MLAs who were denied tickets are – Nehru Olekar (Haveri), N Lingana (Mayakonda), and Sukumar Shetty (Byndoor AC), MP Kumaraswamy (Mudigere AC), CM Nimbannavar (Kalaghatagi AC), SA Ravindranath (Davangere North AC). As per media reports, the party has denied tickets to V Somanna’s son Arun and BS Yediyurappa’s political secretary Santosh, to contest from Gubbi and Arsikere constituencies, respectively. The BJP has not yet announced candidates for Hubballi-Dharwad Central and Shivamogga, the constituencies that are represented by Jagadish Shettar and KS Eshwarappa, respectively.
Shettar met BJP President JP Nadda in New Delhi, and staked his claim to contest from his current constituency on Wednesday.Nagaraja Chabbi, a Congress leader who recently joined BJP, has been fielded from Kalghatgi. Gavi Sidappa has been given ticket to contest from Haveri constituency, while Shiv Kumar has been fielded from Channagiri seat.Gururaj Gantihole has been given ticket for Byndoor seat, while Deepak Doddaiah has been chosen for Mudigere. The party also announced two women candidates in the second list. They are: Lalitha Anapur and Ashwini Sampangi who have been fielded from Gurmitkal and Kolar Gold Field, respectively. Filing of nominations will begin on April 13 and continue till April 20. At least nine legislators were denied tickets in the first list. The announcement led to heartburn among some senior leaders including Laxman Savadi who openly expressed their displeasure. The party also gave tickets to 32 candidates from the OBC community, 30 from SC and 16 from the ST community, in the first list.