BJP to issue first list of candidates from Karnataka for LS Elections on Saturday: B S Yeddyurappa
Bengaluru, Mar 13: Karnataka BJP President B S Yeddyurappa Wednesday said the party would finalise its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls on March 16 and that virtually all the 16 sitting party MPs were likely to get tickets to contest.
Calling the Congress-JD(S) rule in Karnataka as "Tughlaq Darbar", he said the alliance would benefit the BJP in the polls, as they "lack" understanding between each other.
"I'm confident that because of the state government's failures and achievements of the central government, we will win at least 22 Lok Sabha seats.
I have this confidence and we are all working unitedly in that direction," he said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the state BJP Core Committee would meet on March 15-16 after which he would travel to Delhi with state leaders and "the first list of about 20-22 seats out of 28 will be cleared."
BJP had won 17 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but lost one seat (Bellary) to Congress in the by-polls.
Out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, BJP presently has 16, Congress 10 and JD(S) 2.
Yeddyurappa also said that "almost" all 16 sitting BJP MPs are likely to get the ticket.
To a question about Speaker Ramesh Kumar still not accepting the resignation of rebel Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav, who recently joined BJP, he said legal experts have opined that there was no problem for him to contest the Lok Sabha poll.
Jadhav will contest the polls on a BJP ticket from Kalburgi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat) and is likely to be pitted against veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Asked whether Congress and JD(S) fighting the election in alliance would affect BJP's prospects, Yeddyurappa said it would rather benefit the party.
Pointing at the infighting between the coalition partners, he said people were fed up with this government.
"Other than transfer racket and corruption, nothing is happening. It is like a Tughlaq Darbar is going on...there is no understanding between coalition parties and their leaders. ...Kumaraswamy is a Chief Minister limited to four or five districts and not for the state," he added.
Asked whether Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor- turned politician Ambareesh would be the BJP candidate from Mandya, Yeddyurappa said the party was awaiting her decision.
He said after knowing her stand in one or two days, the BJP would arrive at a decision on what it should do as a national party following discussions with its high command.
Asked whether BJP had invited her to the party or whether she was in touch with the leaders, he said the decision would be taken by the central leadership.
According to BJP sources, the party may support her as an independent candidate so that she can continue to bank on the support of disgruntled Congress leaders in Mandya who are upset about their party's decision to cede the seat to JD(S).
Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is likely to be the coalition candidate from Mandya.
To a question about BJP attempting to form the government in the state once again after the Lok Sabha results, he said, "right now our aim is to win more than 22 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
"...more than 20 Congress MLAs are opposing Kumaraswamy and they are not ready to accept him as the Chief Minister... other things let's wait until the polls results are out, after that I will come back to you," he added.
Asked about dynasty politics, with two grandsons of JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda likely to be in the poll fray from Mandya and Hassan respectively, Yeddyurappa said, "I don't want to discuss about it much, but there should be a limit to it.
Deve Gowda's family was trying to exceed that limit, and it has caused public outrage," he said.
Yeddyurappa's sons too are active in politics.
One of them, S B Y Raghavendra, is an MP from Shimoga and is aspiring to retain it.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
