Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Karnataka state unit of the BJP announced its poll in-charge leaders for all 28 seats in the state on Wednesday. These leaders will coordinate with the state party unit and the local party representatives to monitor and undertake all election-related work for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
It was reported that the committee, headed by Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa, has been careful not to violate the rule that an outsider should contest from each constituency. It has also strategically picked leaders for each Lok Sabha segment.
The Mysuru-Kodagu segment will be headed by senior party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister KS Eshwarappa, an MLA from Shimmoga. Ballari has been handed over to former Chief Minister and Hubballi-Dharwad MLA Jagadish Shettar, though B Sriramulu had held the district until recently. Sriramulu, in turn, is now in charge of the Koppal Lok Sabha segment.
Following the demise of former Union Minister and BJP leader Ananth Kumar, his constituency, Bengaluru south, has been handed over to his close confidante, Subba Narasimha (Subbanna). Subba’s appointment also paves the way for the late Ananth Kumar’s wife, Tejaswini, to enter the political arena. The party has also appointed Padmanabhanagar MLA R Ashok as the convenor of the constituency.
Other appointments reported include CT Ravi for Hassan, Sunil Kumar for Dakshina Kannada, Araga Jnanendra for Udupi-Chikmagalur, Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri for Shimmoga, Aravind Limbavali for Tumkur, Ashwathnarayana for Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Central and BH Krishna Reddy for Bengaluru North.