Bangalore:

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JDS on Saturday said it would announce the list of its candidates for the May five Assembly elections by March end.

Bangalore:

Lok Sabha member Prahlad Joshi was on Thursday appointed state ruling BJP chief by national president Rajnath Singh to lead its tough battle in the May 05 Assembly polls.

The appointment of Joshi, representing Dharwad, was announced by Karnataka BJP just a day after the Election Commission declared the poll schedule.

Joshi pipped other contenders as he has a comparatively wider appeal and hails from north Karnataka which the party considers as its stronghold but where it is facing a threat to its prospects from former BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa. Numerically powerful Lingayat community to which Yeddyurappa belongs has a strong presence in north Karnataka.

A second time Lok Sabha member from Dharwad, from where Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar also hails, 50-year-old Joshi, eclipsed former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, Mangalore Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel and Minister Govind M Karjol who were also in the race.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and the party's in-charge of Karnataka affairs Dharmendra Pradhan were in the city recently eliciting the views of key players in the party's state unit on a successor to KS Eshwarappa who resigned from the post earlier this month.

Gowda, hailing from coastal Karnataka, was not seen as somebody who had a mass appeal, first time MP Kateel was considered as "too inexperienced" while Karjol was an "outsider" as he is originally not from the ruling party.

Some BJP leaders also saw the "imprint" of senior party leader HN Anant Kumar in the selection of Joshi whose case he has reportedly taken up after Karjol fell out of the race.

Joshi has his task cut out, with just under seven weeks to go for polls. Anti-incumbency factor is weighing heavily on BJP leaders even as Yeddyurappa, who has formed Karnataka Janatha Paksha, is hell-bent on spoiling its party.

Reacting to Joshi's appointment, Yeddyurappa said it wasn't a surprise to him as Anant Kumar, his bete noire, has been persisting with his name. "Anant Kumar is afraid to head the sinking BJP ship and hence he has suggested Joshi's name."

Elected to Lok Sabha first in 2004 and returned to Parliament in 2009, Joshi has served on different Parliamentary committees. Joshi had served as General Secretary, BJP, Dharwad District, from 1995-98. He had held the position of president, BJP, Dharwad District from 1998-2003. He is now general secretary of BJP in Karnataka.

source:http://zeenews.india.com

Bangalore:

Nearly 70 candidates including 15 former BJP MLAs  are likely to figure in the first list of candidates of the newly formed KJP for the assembly polls. The list will be released on March 21.

Former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa, campaign committee chairman Dhananjay Kumar and party senior leaders C.M. Udasi and Shobha Karandlaje were  involved in the candidate selection process. Sources said that die-hard supporters of the former CM will get a place in the first list.They include

former minister C.M. Udasi,
former MLAs Suresh Gowda Patil,
Basavaraj Patil Attur,
Nehru Olekar,
S.I. Chikkanagowdra,
Sunil Vallyapur,

H. Halappa,
B.P. Harish,
Holalkere Chandrappa,
G. Shivanna
and Tippeswamy.

The KJP had decided to give tickets to Tarikere MLA D.S. Suresh and  Nagatana MLA Vittal Katakadonda but the Speaker has not accepted their  resignations from the assembly.

Even sitting MLCs Shivaraj Sajjanar and Mohan Limbikai are interested in contesting the assembly elections  on a KJP ticket, sources said.

The party will set aside seats for ruling party MLAs and ministers who have decided to join the KJP once the Central Election Commission

issues the notification for elections. The KJP is hoping that agriculture minister Umesh Katti will soon join the party.

The KJP has also decided to reserve tickets for  MLAs,   Laxman Sawadi,  C.C. Patil,   Shrishailappa Bidaru, Yellapura MLA V.S. Patil and  Shirahatti MLA Ramappa Lamani.   Soon after the  second batch of MLAs join the party, the second list of   candidates will be released, sources said, adding that in the first list, Yeddyurappa may also announces candidates for Bengaluru city.

process is on and the second list of candidates will be announced soon, Yeddyurappa said.

The Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) headed by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Thursday released its first list of 69 candidates for the May 05 Assembly Elections.

Beating the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress in the move, Yeddyurappa told reporters that he will fight from his traditional Shikaripura constituency in Shimoga district.

The former chief minister's trusted lieutenant Shobha Karandlaje, whose name figures in the list announced a day after the Election Commission declared the single phase poll schedule, will contest from Rajajinagar in Bangalore.

Out of the 69 candidates, three are women, 14 belong to the SC and eight to the ST, besides three Muslims and a Christian, Yedurappa said.

The Congress, the BJP and the JDS are still engaged in the process of selecting candidates.

The KJP will not have truck with any other party and will contest all 224 Assembly seats, said Yeddyurappa, whose party did damage to the BJP in the recently concluded Urban Local Bodies polls, but failed to make a mark on its own.

"I am confident that the party will gain majority," he said.

The KJP is in touch with pro-Kannada and various other organisations fighting for the cause of state's land, water and farmers, he said adding, "We have had three rounds of talks with these organisations and they have expressed their eagerness to join hands with us."

The process is on and the second list of candidates will be announced soon, Yeddyurappa said.

Asked when other BJP ministers and legislators, apart from those who had already joined hands with him, are expected to join the KJP, Yeddyurappa added, "wait and watch”.

Bangalore:

BJP leader in Karnataka K S Eshwarappa today said the party has become "free and pure" after the exit of B S Yeddyurappa.

Referring to Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa, who resigned as state unit BJP President earlier this month, said the party's workers and well-wishers were earlier pained on two fronts -- confusion over state leadership and people facing corruption charges.

"Now, there is a unity in the leadership. There is no confusion," he claimed. "The workers and well-wishers are happy that those facing CBI cases and had served a prison term are not there.The party has become free and pure."

When pointed out that the party still had some MLAs who faced corruption charges and spent time in jail, Eshwarappa, also Deputy Chief Minister, said the party would take a call on them during distribution of tickets for the coming Assembly poll.

Meanwhile, he said consultations have been completed vis-a-vis selection of candidates in all the 224 constituencies for the May five poll, with interactions with BJP district president, MPs and MLAs, and the party would finalise the list at a meeting of the State election committee on March 23, which would then be forwarded to the central leadership for clearance.

In 150 segments, the party has finalised a single candidate each. Eshwarappa said the party would face the election on the plank of the achievements of the government in the past five years and the development work it carried out, and expressed confidence of returning to power.

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who was with him at the press conference, said: "We will come back (to power) with clear majority".

Shettar said the party has formed a manifesto committee, under the chairmanship of Bangalore North Lok Sabha member D B Chandre Gowda.

To a question, Eshwarappa said the state unit will certainly invite Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for campaigning in the State.

source:http://zeenews.india.com

Bangalore:

As the Election Commission announced a single phase poll for Karnataka Assembly on May 5, the focus shifted to finalisation of candidates by principal political parties -- the ruling BJP, Congress and the JDS, which have already shortlisted nominees in majority of seats.

Opposition Congress, riding high after its impressive show in the recent elections to urban local bodies, has stolen the march with its election committee finalising the party's probables list earlier this week.

It has been sent to the screening committee, sources in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee said adding, most of the sitting party MLAs are expected to be renominated.

Karnataka is the first major state to go to polls after Rahul Gandhi became the Congress vice-president.

BJP, bruised after its below-par performance in the ULB polls where it received a jolt by the Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP) of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, who broke away from the ruling party last year, has short-listed candidates for about 150 of the 224 constituencies.

It had earlier indicated that all sitting MLAs will get tickets. JDS state unit President H D Kumaraswamy said, his party will release the list of candidates for around 150 constituencies by March 23.

The presence of KJP and BSR Congress of former BJP Minister B Srimamulu, has added a new dimension to the coming Assembly poll, with some analysts saying the two could play spoilsport for the BJP, like they did in the ULB polls.

In the outgoing 224-member Assembly, the BJP has a strength of 104, followed by the Congress 71, JDS 25, while there are 16 vacancies, caused largely by those from the ruling party shifting their loyalty to the KJP.

source:http://zeenews.india.com/