Bengaluru: Two of the BJP’s four firebrand MPs from Karnataka were dropped from the party’s candidate list for the Lok Sabha elections, while the fate of a third hangs in the balance.
Pratap Simha, the MP from Mysuru-Kodagu, and Nalin Kumar Kateel, the three-time parliamentarian from Dakshina Kannada, were not on the BJP’s list released Wednesday. The party is yet to decide on the fate of Anantkumar Hegde, the six-term MP from Uttara Kannada district who has been sidelined ever since his comments about changing the Constitution in 2017.
Earlier this week too, Hegde had said it was important for the BJP to get 400 seats to help amend the Constitution, sparking protests and forcing the party to distance itself from the comments.
Only Tejasvi Surya, the first-term MP from Bengaluru-South, was retained in the party list.
All five leaders toed a hardline Hindutva line for several years but lack of development and entanglements in controversies marred their prospects, people aware of the developments said.
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Simha ‘not campaigning enough’
Simha has been replaced by Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the titular head of the erstwhile Mysore royal family. The two-time MP from Mysuru-Kodagu had come into the spotlight after it was discovered that it was his office that had issued passes to the two men involved in the Parliament security breach last December.
“Nearly 80 percent of all workers were against Simha in both Kodagu and Mysuru. He rarely ever interacted with the people and was busy attacking Siddarmaiah and more invested in Varuna constituency,” said a former BJP legislator, requesting anonymity.
Simha, it is learnt, was also accused of not campaigning enough for any of the BJP candidates in the assembly elections last May and remaining fixated on Varuna, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s constituency in Mysuru district.
He has also spoken with the media on several occasions in the past couple of days, making veiled remarks about Yaduveer.
Referring to Yaduveer, Simha had mockingly said that if he comes into the BJP, it would be good to see those leading luxurious lives coming down to share people’s problems, waiting outside hotels to meet and greet national leaders and give up claims on royal lands which impede developmental works meant for the people.
Yaduveer is the 27th and current custodian of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom and is the adopted son of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and H.H.Rajamata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar. A graduate from Amherst in Massachusetts, he is married to Princess Trishika Kumari Wadiyar of Dungarpur in Rajasthan.
Kateel’s ‘failure to implement development works’
Kateel, former president of the Karnataka BJP, also faced stiff opposition within his constituency over allegations like prolonged absence and failure to implement development works in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada. A close aide of BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh, Kateel was elevated to the top post in defiance of B.S.Yediyurappa, party leaders say.
Santosh, who shares a turbulent relationship with Yediyurappa, was accused of replacing seasoned leaders with his aides which contributed to the BJPs rout in last year’s elections, according to political analysts.
Kateel’s car was also attacked by angry ring-wing supporters crowd in his own district after the murder of BJP worker Praveen Nettaru in July 2022.
Kateel has been replaced by Captain Brijesh Chowta, a former Army officer who served in the 8 Gorkha Rifles and member of one of the erstwhile royal families that ruled some parts of what is now the Dakshina Kannada district.
Yeddiyurappa’s son retained
The BJP also moved Shobha Karandlaje from her Udupi-Chikmagalur seat to Bengaluru North after reports indicated that she faces anti-incumbency in her former seat.
Videos of people confronting her over lack of development and unfinished projects flooded social media all of last week. She replaces former CM Sadanada Gowda in Bengaluru North.
Kota Srinivas Poojary replaces Shobha in Udupi-Chikmagalur.
Karandlaje was also facing opposition from BJP leaders C.T. Ravi in Chikmagalur. Karandlaje also adopted a hardline Hindutva stance, but has maintained a low profile ever since she was elevated as Union minister of state in July 2021. She is a Vokkaliga and bodes well for the party as this community has largely backed the BJP under Modi in general elections.
Yediyurappa’s older son, B.Y. Raghavendra has been retained in Shivamogga, indicating how the former CM continues to wield his influence over the Narendra Modi- and Amit Shah-led central leadership. Yediyurappa’s younger son replaced Kateel as state BJP president last October.
The BJP has decided to retain Annasaheb Jolle from Chikkodi, P.C. Gaddigoudar from Bagalkot, Ramesh Jigajinagi from Vijayapura (Bijapur), Bhagwanth Khuba in Bidar, Umesh Yadav in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) and P.C. Mohan from Bengaluru Central.
Union Minister Prahlad Joshi will contest from Hubli-Dharwad while former CM of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai has been chosen as the candidate from Haveri.
Ex-CM Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress before the assembly polls last year and returned to the BJP this January, did not find a mention in the party list of hopefuls.
Dr C.N. Manjunath, the son-in-law of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, and former director of the state-run Jayadeva cardiology hospital, has been fielded as the BJP candidate from Bengaluru Rural against D. K. Suresh, brother of state Congress president and deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar.
The party has also fielded B. Sriramulu, former minister and close aide of Gali Janardhana Reddy, alleged kingpin of illegal iron ore mining, from Ballari.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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