The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to re-nominate its Bengaluru MLAs as candidates in the upcoming Assembly elections while bringing in new faces to overturn results in constituencies where the party lost in 2018.
The BJP has fielded Ravi Subramaniam, the incumbent MLA from Basavanagudi, Uday Garudachar from Chickpet, Munirathna from RR Nagar, Ashwath Narayana from Malleshwaram, R Ashoka from Padmanabhanagar, S Raghu from CV Raman Nagar, SR Vishwanath from Yelahanka, Byrathi Basavaraj from KR Pura, ST Somashekar from Yeshwanthpura, and Gopalaiah from Mahalakshmi Layout. They have all been nominated to seek re-election in the upcoming polls.
The party has decided to bring in new faces including former Bengaluru Police commissioner Bhaskar Rao to overturn results in constituencies that have become Congress strongholds. Bhaskar Rao, who joined the party from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) recently, will contest against Congress leader Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Other new faces picked by the BJP are Thammesh Gowda in Byatarayanapura, Murali in Pulakeshinagar, N Chandra in Shivajinagar, N Shivakumar in Shantinagar, CK Ramamurthy in Jayanagar, and Padmanabha Reddy in Sarvagnanagar.
The BJP's first list of candidates also features other notable contests, such as R Ashoka taking on Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar in Kanakapura and V Somanna facing off against former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Varuna.
Several sitting MLAs and Ministers have been retained, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who will be contesting from Shiggaon in Haveri district. Other notable names in the list of retained candidates include Munirathna N, K Sudhakar, B Sriramalu, and MP Renukacharya, among others.
In a significant move, the BJP has also given a ticket to BY Vijayendra, son of BJP strongman BS Yediyurappa, to contest from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district. Retired IAS officer Anil Kumar will be facing senior Congress leader Parameshwara in Koratagere.