Karnataka Elections: BJP’s strategy to pin down two Congress stalwarts

The much awaited list of the BJP for the Karnataka Assembly elections 2023 was announced on Tuesday.

While there are several new faces in the list, the ones to watch out for are V Somanna and R Ashoka. Both are contesting two Congress stalwarts, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar.

The list sends a clear message that the BJP does not want the two Congress chief minister faces to take their constituencies in Varuna and Kanakapura. Both Somanna and Ashoka are strong leaders and the BJP expects them to give both the Congress leaders a run for their money.

Siddaramaiah is contesting from Varuna and he would be up against Somanna of the BJP. Somanna who hails from the Lingayat community enjoys a good rapport with the mutts and he would hope that this would work in his favour in Varuna.

In the case of Shivakumar, the Kanakapura seat has always been a cakewalk for him. With the entry of Ashoka, who like Shivakumar hails from the Vokkaliga community, the battle would be an interesting one.

Somanna and Ashoka will also be contesting from the Chamarajanagar and Padmanabhanagar constituencies respectively.

Overall if one looks at the list, the BJP has omitted several senior leaders such as Jagadish Shettar among others. "I am hurt. I do not know they asked me to vacate" Shettar said on his omission.

The other leader who was asked to vacate was former deputy chief minister, K S Eshwarappa. He however did so without a protest. "The BJP must get majority in 2024 and Narendra Modi should become prime minister again. To attain this, I am retiring," he said.

B S Yediyurappa the BJP strongman had announced his retirement from politics a few months back. His son B Y Vijayendra has been given a ticket from his father's stronghold of Shikaripura. The fact that Yediyurappa managed to get tickets for many of followers also shows that he enjoys a clout in the party.

The BJP has fielded 52 new faces in the list of 189 that it released.