Karnataka polls: BJP continues to face heat over ticket distribution

The BJP continued to face heat and resorted to firefighting following the announcement of 212 candidates for the May 10 Assembly polls in two lists with disappointed aspirants raising a banner of revoltAfter a series of deliberations the BJP on Tuesday announced its first list of 189 candidates and a second list of 23 on Wednesday night With a total 224 seats in the Assembly the party is yet to name contestants for 12 seatsMudigere BJP MLA M P Kumaraswamy and Haveri MLA Nehru Olekar on Thursday announced their resignation from the primary membership of the party after they were denied ticketsSome aspirants and legislators have announced their resignation a few have resigned We are speaking to workers and leaders and things will be resolved by and large Im speaking to seniors who are disgruntled also our high command will be speaking to them Im confident things will be resolved Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai saidSpeaking to reporters in the coastal town of Mangaluru he said things would be resolved given some timeIn response to a question on senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi announcing that he was quitting the party Bommai said he will also have to safeguard the trust of the people of the constituency from whom he will be under pressure So it will take some time but it will be resolvedTo a question about Savadi being in touch with Congress leaders the CM said he was not aware of it but was confident that things would be fine There is an emotional bond he Savadi might have said things out of angerStating that candidates had been selected based on survey reports the Chief Minister said he would also speak to Mudigere MLA Kumaraswamy and try to ensure that he remained in the partyVeteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said there was some disgruntlement among some party members in some places and certain statements had been made and that he would speak to them personallyAlso read Karnataka polls BJP denies tickets to 7 sitting MLAs in its second listThey should cooperate with the BJP Ive been speaking to them disgruntled since yesterday to ensure there is no confusion and most probably other than one or two cases things will be resolved and Im confident that they will cooperate he saidYediyurappa too said he would speak to Kumaraswamy The party has not deprived him of things We have given him everything It is easy to resign He should stop his loose talkIn Haveri Olekar who was overlooked and replaced by Gavisiddappa Dyamannavar has openly blamed Chief Minister Bommai for his not getting the ticketOlekar said he and his supporters had decided to resign from the primary membership of the party About 1000 supporters are resigning with me We will be sending it resignation letter to the district president I have got calls from other parties including JDS I will decide after speaking to my supporters and votersFormer MLA Sogadu Shivanna who was aspirant for the Tumakuru city ticket too has resigned from the BJP following the partys decision to field G B Jyothi Ganesh instead of himHe said his supporters and voters had asked him to contest the polls and that he would file his nomination before April 20On Wednesday former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi who was looking to be fielded from Athani announced his decision to resign from the primary membership of the party while Minister and sixtime MLA S Angara from Sullia constituency in Dakshina Kannada district announced his retirement from politics after failing to be renominatedUdupi MLA Raghupati Bhat who was also overlooked by BJP has said he was deeply pained by the treatment meted out to him by the party and BJP MLC R Shankar who was an aspirant for Ranebennur Assembly seat resigned as legislator on Wednesday after the party ignored his requestHosadurga MLA Goolihatti Shekhar who has also been denied a ticket has said he would contest as an independent or join former Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddys newly formed Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha I will decide soon after consulting my supporters he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever