New Delhi: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader B S Yediyurappa announced on Wednesday that the list of candidates for the remaining five Lok Sabha seats in the southern state would be finalized on March 22. Last week, the BJP announced its first list of 20 candidates for the upcoming elections in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 constituencies.
While the alliance partner JD(S) has already declared that it would contest in three seats -- Hassan, Mandya, and Kolar -- there has been no official confirmation from the BJP regarding this arrangement, reported news agency PTI.
Reports suggest that the BJP is hesitant to concede the Kolar seat to the JD(S), with S Muniswamy currently holding the position of the incumbent BJP MP.
Yediyurappa stated that a detailed discussion on the remaining five seats was held with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda.
“Yesterday we had a detailed discussion on the remaining five seats with the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) and BJP national president J P Nadda. The final decision will be announced on March 22 after a discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since it is an alliance between BJP and the JD(S), this time it will be possible to win all the 28 seats,” Yediyurappa told reporters, as per the PTI report.
He expressed confidence in winning all 28 seats through the BJP-JD(S) alliance.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP secured 25 seats, while an independent backed by the party also won. The Congress and JD(S), who had formed an alliance for the elections, managed to secure one seat each.
“All that I would like to say is all the JD(S) leaders including former Prime Minister and party patriarch H D Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister and his son H D Kumaraswamy will be with us. Once they agree to the decision that our party high command will take, all things will be set right,” Yediyurappa said, the PTI report added.
“We will try to give them those seats, which they are expecting,” he added.