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The first list of the BJP candidates for the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections will be finalised by April 8 by the party’s central leadership, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said in Bengaluru Tuesday.
The CM’s statement came close on the heels of Union minister Pralhad Joshi indicating in Belagavi Monday that the first list of the BJP candidates could be out on April 8 or 9.
Bommai said the process of screening of party candidates had progressed from the constituency to the district and state levels. “The (party’s) state (core) committee meeting will be held on Tuesday. There will be a further screening of the candidates and the list will be sent to the Centre today or tomorrow… On April 8 the list will be discussed at the Centre and (then) the final list will be released,” he said.
“The process of selecting candidates is being done in a very democratic way. From the constituency level to the district level to the state level there have been consultations and all information have been gathered. We are sure it will be a smooth process of selecting candidates,” Bommai said, suggesting there will be many new candidates.
The Opposition Congress and JD(S) have already released their first lists of 124 and 93 candidates respectively for the election to the 224-member Assembly.
The delay in the release of the BJP’s list reflects its bid to keep internal dissidence under control and delay any possible defections by its disgruntled leaders to the Opposition parties.
Ahead of the announcement of its candidates, the BJP has deployed key party leaders like Pralhad Joshi to bring warring BJP factions in key regions like Belagavi to the negotiation table and hammer out a truce in a bid to prevent infighting from undermining the party’s prospects in the polls.
In Belagavi, Joshi held parleys with former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and ex-deputy CM Laxman Savadi, who are feuding with each other there which, the saffron party fears, may damage its prospects in the district with 18 seats – the second highest for a single district after Bengaluru, which has 28 seats.
Jarkiholi, who was a key facilitator of the formation of the BJP government after defecting with 16 other Congress and JD(S) MLAs to its fold in 2019, is seeking tickets for two of his close associates, Mahesh Kumatahalli and Shrimanth Patil, for the polls.
The BJP is reportedly not in favor of giving ticket to Kumatahalli in the Athani seat, where it wants to field Savadi, who was defeated by Kumatahalli (then in the Congress) in the 2018 election.
There have been reports of rumblings in the Belagavi district BJP meetings for the selection of candidates, with Jarkiholi, a Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak leader, telling the party leaders that it was the shift of rebels like him, Kumatahalli and Shrimanth Patil to the saffron party that allowed it to come to power in 2019 after toppling the then Congress-JDS coalition government.
There are also fears in the BJP that giving primacy to the Jarkiholi group would result in the Savadi group allying with Jarkiholi’s rivals in the Congress, especially from the Lingayat community, to defeat the BJP.
Joshi attempted to broker a truce between Savadi and Jarkiholi by bringing them to the negotiating table. “We want to win 18 out of 18 seats in Belagavi and we are making our best efforts. I have spoken on a one-to-one basis with the leaders. I have spoken to those who need to have coordination. Our first list will be released on April 8 or 9. I have asked everyone to be united and to start working,” he said.
“I have spoken to both Laxman Savadi and Mahesh Kumatahalli. I have told them that they should abide by any decision taken by the party. I have told Kumatahalli about this as well,” the Union minister added.
