Karnataka Assembly election: BS Yeddyurappa, Sreeramulu part of BJP’s first list of 72

The second MP in the first list, released following a meeting of the BJP central election committee featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is Bellary MP B Sreeramulu, a close associate of the Reddy brothers of Bellary. Sreeramulu will contest from Mokalmuru constituency (reserved for Scheduled Tribe) in Chitradurga region, and not Bellary rural seat he has represented in the past.

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Both Yeddyurappa and Sreeramulu had quit the BJP to float their own parties – the Karnataka Janata Party and BSR Congress, respectively – before the 2013 Assembly polls. Both merged their parties with the BJP before the 2014 General Election and were among 17 BJP Lok Sabha members elected from Karnataka that year.

While Yeddyurappa is a leader of the dominant Lingayat community, Sreeramulu is considered a strong leader of the Valmiki Nayak community, part of the Scheduled Tribes list. The two had moved away from the BJP in the aftermath of corruption allegations that emerged around them during the saffron party’s tenure in Karnataka between 2008 and 2013.

In a key move, the BJP has given the ticket for Shimoga constituency to Yeddyurappa’s arch-rival K S Eshwarappa —- dissenters in the party have rallied around him in recent times. Eshwarappa lost the elections in 2013 after Yeddyurappa left the BJP and floated KJP. Rudresh Gowda, a strong supporter of Yeddyurappa, was seen as aspirant for ticket from Shimoga Assembly seat.

While the first list of BJP candidates features most of the party’s 44 sitting MLAs, it also includes several new entrants – like Congress veteran Mallikayya Guttedar, a six-time MLA from Afzalpur, who crossed over to the BJP following differences in Gulbarga region with Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge. Guttedar will contest from Afzalpur seat in Gulbarga district in Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

Karnataka elections: BJP’s first list of 72 candidates

Karnataka elections: BJP’s first list of 72 candidates

Karnataka elections: BJP’s first list of 72 candidates

Basavaraj Patil Yatnal, a former BJP MP who recently returned to the party from JDS, will contest from Bijapur city seat, according to the list. Yatnal is considered a formidable candidate.  C P Yogeshwar, a former Congress MLA who enjoys support in south Karnataka region of Mandya, dominated by the Vokkaliga community, has been chosen to contest from Channapatna. Yogeshwar has been a minister in the BJP government in the past.

Among the new entrants who have been chosen to contest the polls are Congress rebel A S Patil Nadahalli (Muddebihal seat), Janata Dal Secular rebels Mallikarjun Khuba (Basava Kalyan), Shivaraj Patil from (Raichur) and Manappa Vajal (Lingasugur).

The BJP has chosen wealthy realtor Uday Garudachar, son of a former police officer, who owns a mall in Bengaluru and who once ran for a Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar, to contest from Chikpet constituency in Bengaluru.