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BJP decision on nominee for Tanga's seat today

Staff Correspondent

Veteran party leader to vacate Legislative Council seat in May; choice narrows down to three candidates

M.R. Tanga

Bidar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tentatively selected three names for the contest to the seat to be vacated by senior leader M.R. Tanga in the Legislative Council in May. Party sources say the final decision will be taken on Friday.

The party's 15 -member election committee has short-listed the Hyderabad-Karnataka Education Society joint secretary Basavaraj Patil Ashtur of Bidar, the ABVP leader and Sindhanur Urban Cooperative Bank president Manohar Maski of Raichur and the Gulbarga Chamber of Commerce and Industries former president Amarnath Patil of Gulbarga as the probable candidates.

The committee includes senior leaders such as the party's national general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, the State unit president Jagadish Shettar, the Leaders of the Opposition, B.S. Yediyurappa in the Legislative Assembly, and D.H. Shankaramurthy in the Legislative Council, the State unit vice-president K.B. Shanappa, the State unit general secretary Arvind Limbavali, and members of the party's "think-tank" such as Vaman Acharya and K. Shankarappa.

Committee sources said that the party had decided to nominate a new candidate to the Council seat after Dr. Tanga refused to seek re-election on health grounds. Dr. Tanga was the party representative of the North-Eastern Graduate Constituency in the Council for three consecutive terms.

"We have decided that the seat should go to a candidate from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region," they said.

Dr. Tanga belonged to the Jain community and there was a thought of giving a chance to a candidate from the non-minority communities.

The first informal invitation among the party cadre brought around half a dozen applications from leaders in that area. Of these, the applications of Manohar Maski of Raichur, B.S. Makal, Subhash Biradar, B.G. Jawali and Amarnath Patil of Gulbarga, Basavaraj Patil G. Ashtur of Bidar and Sanganna Hokkalad of Koppal were considered.

Dr. Tanga's son, Sharad Tanga, did not apply. There were no applications from Bellary. The constituency includes Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal and Bellary and Harapanahalli taluk in Davangere district. Harapanahalli was part of Bellary till the district reorganisation in 1997.

During a party meeting in Murudeshwar, the choice was between Mr. Maski and Dr. Jawali. But the decision was postponed by a fortnight as Dr. Ashtur, the former ABVP vice-president Prof. Makal and Mr. Patil expressed their eagerness to be party nominees.

Dr. Jawali apparently withdrew and Dr. Ashtur, Mr. Maski, Prof. Makal and Mr. Patil were left in the fray.

The choice is now between Mr. Maski, who is seen as a Sangh Parivar leader and a cooperative movement leader close to many Congress leaders, including the Law Minister, H.K. Patil, Dr. Ashtur, who had unsuccessfully contested the MLC elections from the North - Eastern Teachers Constituency in 2003, and Mr. Patil. The final decision will be taken on Friday, the sources said.

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BJP decision on nominee for Tanga's seat today

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