BJP snubs Sushma Swaraj's opposition, fields Sriramulu from Bellary

Bangalore, March 13: With last moment changes taking place within the parties ahead of elections, BJP today announced that they will field

as BJP candidate from

district in

.

BJP's Karnataka unit has been pushing for merger of BSR Congress headed by B Sriramulu. "BSR Congress has announced its decision on merger with BJP. We have requested the central leadership to allow us to respond positively," state unit chief Prahlad Joshi told reporters on Wednesday.

The final decision came with the party rolling out it's candidate list and naming Sriramulu as their candidate contesting from Bellary.

And now, BJP trying pacify the other two aspirants MS Somalingappa and Dr. T Srinivas to work along with Sriramulu to gain supremacy over the constituency.

Sriramulu, once a close associate of mining baron from Bellary district Janardhan Reddy, who had wielded big clout in the BJP when it was in power in the state, had recently announced the merger decision. But his move, fully endorsed by the state BJP, had hit a roadblock after Swaraj resisted it, apparently to dissociate herself from Reddy, who was once considered close to her after she contested unsuccessfully from Bellary against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the 1999 polls.

Joshi said the party today finalised the list of eight more candidates for Lok Sabha polls, which would be considered by the Central Election Committee tomorrow.

In the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, BJP candidate J Shanta defeated N.Y. Hanumanthappa of Congress by a margin of 1800 votes. INC challenged the verdict in Supreme Court, Shantha won in recounting of votes also.
J Shantha is the younger sister of B Sriramulu.

The first list of 20 candidates was released last week. The list included constituencies which have turned out to be tricky for the party in selecting its candidates in view of its strongman and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa pushing for the case of some of his supporters.

With PTI inputs

OneIndia News