Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Tuesday claimed that the BJP’s central leadership held talks with him before finalising the names of two low-profile party workers as candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.
The BJP has fielded Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, leaders for Belagavi and Ballari zones, respectively. The party’s central leadership picked these two, overruling the recommendations made by the State unit — Ramesh Katti, brother of senior MLA Umesh Katti, incumbent Prabhakar Kore, and hotelier Prakash Shetty. This has been read as a snub to Mr. Yediyurappa and the core committee that picked the three names.
Speaking to reporters here during the filing of nomination papers by party candidates, Mr. Yediyurappa said, “The BJP central leaders have given Rajya Sabha tickets to two ordinary workers of the party and thereby have given a gift to karyakartas. I compliment Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president J.P. Nadda, and Home Minister Amit Shah for this.” The Chief Minister expressed hopes that both candidates would work effectively in the Upper House of Parliament.
“Only the BJP can take such decisions and give an opportunity to ordinary karyakartas. From our core committee, we had sent some names, but ultimately our national president spoke to me and said it was decided that tickets would be given to ordinary party workers. It was after this discussion that the two names were finalised,” the Chief Minister claimed.
All the three names recommended by the State BJP core committee on Saturday were high-profile candidates. However, the central leadership ignored all three names and fielded two low-key workers associated with the party organisation for nearly three decades. “In other States too, the party has fielded ordinary karyakartas. I welcome it,” Mr. Yediyurappa said said.
