Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party is in a dilemma with party strongman BS Yediyurappa refusing to field his son BY Vijayendra against Opposition leader Siddaramaiah in the Varuna constituency in Mysuru in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly election.
The party had planned to field Vijayendra and had thrown a bait to BSY saying if his son becomes a giant killer by defeating Siddaramaiah, he would surely skyrocket to the top post in the party. But the Lingayat leader felt if his son loses, his political fortunes would nosedive.
Varuna is a stronghold of the Congress
Varuna is a stronghold of the Congress, which has been winning the seat since the constituency was formed in 2008. Siddaramaiah won the seat twice before relinquishing it to his son Yathindra in 2018, who polled 55. 1% of the vote.
However, the BJP is not ready to give up as the party’s alliance candidate, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), came second with 34% votes.
Now, the party is planning to field housing minister V Somanna. After three preliminary phases of its process to pick nominees, a shortlist has been sent to the parliamentary board, which is expected to finalise the names by April 10.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Yediyurappa head to Delhi
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Yediyurappa headed to Delhi to finalise the BJP list. Bommai predicted that over 60 seats are already in its kitty because the Congress has fielded weak candidates.
In another poll-related development, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that the Congress has a good chance of winning the Karnataka assembly election.
“My assessment (of the Karnataka election) is that there are two types of elections — a national election for the central government and an election for the states. My personal assessment, and you may not agree, is that the state elections are a different game,” Pawar told NDTV.
Pawar’s predictions may come true as Bommai is up against a strong historical trend as an incumbent government has never got reelected since 1985.
