The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on Sunday, March 24. The party has fielded former CM Jagadish Shettar from Belagavi, which is presently being represented by Mangala Suresh Angadi, a relative of Shettar. TNM had first reported in January on its members-only newsletter Powertrip (Become a Member to get access to Powertrip) that the BJP team negotiated with Shettar had offered him a Lok Sabha seat from Belagavi.
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The party has dropped former Union Minister and MP for Uttara Kannada, Anantkumar Hegde, who has been embarrassing the party through controversial remarks and has instead nominated former Assembly Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri to contest from Uttara Kannada constituency.
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Former health minister Sudhakar, who had lost the Assembly elections will contest from Chikkaballapura constituency replacing incumbent MP BN Bache Gowda. Gowda had long dissociated from the BJP and quit recently.
Raja Amareshwar Naik has been nominated from Raichur.
This announcement brings the total count of BJP candidates in Karnataka to 24, leaving only the Chitradurga constituency. Reports state that former minister Govind Karjol and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayana Swamy are under consideration for this seat. However, opposition from local BJP workers towards these candidates has led to a delay in the final decision-making process.
Meanwhile, BJP’s alliance partner Janata Dal (Secular) will contest in three seats.