The Hindu : Ananth Kumar for Bangalore South

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Ananth Kumar for Bangalore South

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 21. The BJP has marched ahead of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) by announcing the first list of 125 candidates for the Assembly elections. The party has also released from New Delhi the names of candidates for 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State. It is expected to announce in a couple of days the second list for both the elections.

If the party finally opts against a seat sharing arrangement with the Janata Dal (United), it will have to name candidates for the remaining 99 Assembly seats.

In the first list of 125 Assembly candidates, there are 28 members of the dissolved 11th Legislative Assembly. One of them, Sanganna Karadi (Koppal), was a Janata Dal MLA.

The BJP State unit President, H.N. Ananth Kumar, will contest from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency for the fourth time. The Union Minister of State for Railways, Basanagowda Patil Yatnal, will defend his Bijapur seat. A prominent omission from the Lok Sabha list is that of the former Union Minister and MP from Mangalore, Dhananjaya Kumar. Mr. Dhananjaya Kumar, who was the most enduring among the BJP MPs from the State, having won from Mangalore four times in a row from 1991, makes way for the former MLA from Puttur, D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Mr. Dhananjaya Kumar's exclusion is stated to be on account of opposition within the party and also from sections of the Mangalore electorate.

The former Bangalore Police Commissioner, H.T. Sangliana, will contest from the Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat. He is also the only Christian in the BJP's first list of candidates. While the nomination of the former Congress Chief Minister, S. Bangarappa, for the Shimoga seat was expected, the party has opted for safety and nominated the former State party chief Basavaraj Patil Sedam for the Gulbarga seat. It has thus denied the nomination to the newcomer from the Congress, S.S. Jawali. Some of the State party leaders hostile to Mr. Sedam had proposed the name of Dr. Jawali, former MP and son-in-law of the former Chief Minister, Veerendra Patil. There was a rift in the Gulbarga unit of the party over that move to sideline Mr. Sedam.

The BJP has preferred the member of the dissolved Lok Sabha and two-time winner, D.C. Srikantappa, for the Chikmagalur seat. It has thus voted against the strong demand for selecting the former Union Minister, D.K. Taradevi Siddhartha, who had stood loyally by the party while many others who had entered the BJP from other parties, walked out of it.

The BJP has re-nominated the 96-year-old "professional" MP from the Bidar (Reserved) seat, Ramachandrappa Veerappa.

Another party heavyweight and former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, S. Mallikarjunaiah, will contest again from Tumkur, which had elected him twice in 1991 and 1998. The former two-time MP, Ananth Kumar Hegde, who was active in the Bababudangiri Shrine agitation, will contest from the Kanara seat.

A new entrant to the party from the Janata Parivar, Ramesh Jigajinnagi, will defend his Chikkodi (Reserved) seat where he had broken the stranglehold of the family of the former Union Minister, B. Shankaranand. The former MP, C.H. Vijaya Shankar, is the candidate from Mysore and another recent entrant Nagappa Saloni is the candidate from Koppal.

The party veteran and MLC, Ramachandra Gowda, will contest from Kanakapura. G.M. Veeresh, son of the former MP, the Late G. Mallikarjunappa, will contest from Davangere. As was expected, the former Congress Minister, Manorama Madhwaraj, has been selected for the Udupi seat.

The party leader from Dharwad district, Prahlad Joshi, will fight the election from Dhawad North while a leader of the party's SC and ST wing, D.S. Veeraiah, will contest from Kolar (SC). He has been preferred to Balaji Channaiah.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka