Bengaluru: Former MP and BJP leader Tejaswini Gowda, party leader S. Rudregowda, party vice president K.P. Nanjundi, N. Ravikumar and Raghunath Malkapure are the BJP candidates for the Upper House polls to be held shortly.
The BJP has given the lion's share of the tickets to OBC candidates- Mr Nanjundi, Ravikumar and Malkapure- but has denied the ticket to SC aspirant D.S. Veeraiah. Sources said the party declined to give him a second term citing the high number of SC candidates who have been elected to the Assembly.
Another OBC leader, B.J.Puttaswamy also sought the ticket, but the BJP preferred new faces instead of giving an extension to Mr. Puttaswamy and Veeraiah. Expressing unhappiness over the party decision, Mr Veeraiah said, "By denying the ticket to me, the party has sent a wrong message to the community. They want me to contest from the Kolar Lok Sabha seat in 2019 but if the party had renominated me to the Council, I would have gained the strength to contest against Congress candidate Mr K.H. Muniyappa", he told Deccan Chronicle.
Yeddyurappa loyalist S. Rudregowda from Shivamogga has earned a Council berth after he lost out in the race for the Shivamogga assembly seat to senior BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa-someone Yeddyurappa was not keen on. Mr. Eshwarappa is unhappy with the decision of Yeddyurappa to choose his rival Rudreshgowda for the Council seat, sources said.
Mr K.P. Nanjundi who was in the Congress, joined the BJP before the Assembly elections and has been rewarded with a Council seat. As for Tejaswini Gowda, she was backed by Union Minister Ananth Kumar and BJP leader R. Ashok. Another Vokkaliga leader, Ashwathnarayana, had lobbied for the ticket in vain.
