Lingayats, backward castes dominate BJP’s first list

Out of the 136 names that figure on the BJP’s first list of candidates who will contest the May Assembly polls...

Out of the 136 names that figure on the BJP’s first list of candidates who will contest the May Assembly polls, 51 are of those belonging to the Lingayat community, a group that dominates north Karnataka and is backing the party in the forthcoming election. The party’s first list also features most winners of the 2004 polls.

The BJP has given 24 tickets to backward castes (a section the Congress is banking on for victory) and 19 tickets to the dominant Vokkaliga community of south Karnataka. It has allotted 18 seats to scheduled castes, six to scheduled tribes and three to women.

The BJP has given representation to seven new entrants from the Janata Dal Secular and the Congress. These include former JDS ministers G T Deve Gowda, N Bache Gowda and K Thipeswamy, former Congress minister M Mahadev, former JDU leader Basavaraj Bommai and former Bangalore police commissioner L Revannasiddaiah.

Story continues below this ad

Two sitting MPs, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Bijapur and Karunakar Reddy from Bellary, will contest the Assembly polls from Devar Hippargi, a new constituency, and Harapanahalli, respectively. Both these MPs are close to Ananth Kumar. The interests of the two main camps within the party — one close to B S Yeddyurappa and the other close to Ananth Kumar — have been balanced in the ticket distribution.

A long-standing power struggle revolving around iron-ore mines in Bellary district will be fought in the Harapannahalli constituency where Karunakar Reddy will be pitted against former home minister M P Prakash or his son M P Ravi. Prakash has recently joined the Congress from the JDS.

The powerful Reddys from Bellary, who have made their fortunes through iron ore exports and are considered the backbone of the Karnataka BJP, will have a second contestant in the fray with Karunakar’s youngest brother Somashekhar given the party ticket to contest from Bellary City. Former minister B Sriramulu who filed a criminal case against H D Kumaraswamy — when he was CM — and who is considered part of the Reddy family will contest the Bellary reserved constituency seat.

Discontent has, however, emerged over the party’s choice of candidates for constituencies in the north that will go to polls on May 22 as well as for the 89 constituencies that will go to polls in the south on May 10. The choice of MLC Shobha Karandlaje from the Yeshwanthpur constituency in the Bangalore urban district has created acrimony, as has the choice of MLC Arvind Limbavalli who is considered close to Ananth Kumar. At Dharwad, the BJP activists protested against denial of ticket to U B Banakar, a former MLA.