The Bharatiya Janata Party high command has again sprung a surprise on selection of candidates by choosing Shivaraj Sajjan as the nominee for the byelection in Hangal Assembly constituency.
Ticket was expected to be given to Revathi Udasi, daughter-in-law of the late C.M. Udasi, whose death necessitated the byelection.
However, there is no surprise with respect to the choice for Sindgi constituency. The party has chosen Ramesh Bhusanur whose name had been doing the rounds for some time. The byelection in Sidagi is necessitated due to the death of MLA M.C. Managuli.
Ms. Revathi Udasi’s name was among the several shortlisted by the BJP State core committee for the byelections.
Not giving ticket to her is being interpreted in different ways in BJP circles. A section of party leaders feel that the parameters adopted for candidate selection was in tune with the norms of not encouraging dynastic politics. They point out that Ms. Revathi Udasi’s husband, Shivakumar Udasi, is a Member of Parliament representing Haveri.
However, a prominent leader in the party State unit said Ms. Revathi Udasi missed out on the party ticket as there was a demand to field a local candidate from Hangal. “The party high command took a final call based on the native angle and hence she could not get the ticket,” he maintained. Udasi family is close to the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
Meanwhile, with only one day left for filing of nomination papers, Congress and JD(S) candidates filed their papers with much fanfare on Thursday in both the constituencies. Polling will take place on October 30.
Restrictions imposed
The Election Commission of India has prohibited canvassing between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. citing COVID-19 protocol.
It has also said that the poll officials and personnel and poll agents of political parties deployed on the counting day should have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. And if they have received only one dose, then it is mandatory for them to produce RT-PCR negative report received not before 72 hours.
Joshi, Nirmala appointed members of national executive
BJP national president J.P. Nadda has appointed Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Nirmala Sitharaman, who have been elected from Karnataka, as members of the party national executive.
Party national general secretary C.T. Ravi has been appointed as special invitee for the national executive while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former Chief Ministers B.S. Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Ministers K.S. Eshwarappa, R. Ashok, and Govind Karjol, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, and MPs Umesh Jadhav and Tejasvi Surya, and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi have been appointed invitees for the national executive.
Leader of the House in the Legislative Council and Minister K. Srinivas Poojari and BJP state vice-president Nirmal Kumar Surana have also been appointed invitees for the national executive.
