After months of denying any hand in the defection of 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs in Karnataka, the BJP on Thursday gave tickets to 13 disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs as in the upcoming bye-elections in the state.
The BJP announced that Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), Shrimant Patil (Kagwad), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), BC Patil (Hirekerur), Anand Singh (Vijayanagara), Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Pura), ST Somashekar (Yeshwanthpur), Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), MTB Nagaraj (Hosakote), Narayanagowda (KR Pet), and AH Vishwanath (Hunsur), would be the party's candidates in the bye-elections.
The first list of candidates released by the BJP included the names of 13 out of the 17 disqualified MLAs. The disqualification of the MLAs paved the way for the BJP to form the government in the state in July this year. In its second list released on Thursday afternoon, the BJP confirmed that former corporator Sharavana will contest from the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency. The party did not invite former Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig into its fold.
The BJP meanwhile is yet to announce candidates in Shivajinagar and Ranebennur constituencies.
On Thursday, 16 out of the 17 disqualified MLAs joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. However, former Shivajinagar MLA Roshan Baig was not invited to join the party.
Former independent MLA from Ranebennur R Shankar was inducted into the BJP but his name does not figure in the first list of candidates announced by the party.
The BJP needs to win six out of the 15 bye-elections to keep its majority in the Assembly. Following the elections, the strength of the Assembly will be 222 and the BJP needs to improve its current tally of 106 to 112.
The bye-elections in the Maski and RR Nagar constituencies are yet to be announced. Former MLAs Pratapgouda Patil and Muniratna are also disqualified from the Assembly but are yet to find out when bye-elections will be held in their constituencies.
The BJP's announcement comes on the day the JD(S) announced candidates for 10 constituencies and also confirmed that the party will support Sharath Bachegowda candidature in the Hosakote constituency.