BJP names Cong rebel Jadhav in first list; Union minister Ananth Kumar's wife misses out

BENGALURU: The BJP on Thursday released the first list of 21 candidates from Karnataka which doesn't include the names of a sitting MP Karadi Sanganna from Koppal and late Union minister HN Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, who was tipped to succeed her husband and be the BJP candidate from Bangalore South.
Barring Sanganna, the party has released the first list with the rest 14 sitting MPs including the name of Shobha Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Suresh Angadi from Belagavi despite stiff opposition at the ground level and anti-incumbency against them.
Sources in the BJP are baffled with the name of Tejaswini not in the first list and were unaware of the reasons for her candidature being withheld.
“We are also equally surprised with Tejaswini’s name being not on the first list. We in fact inaugurated her personal office on Thursday morning and were sure of her name being announced. We are yet to get any confirmed reasoning for the candidature being withheld,” said one BJP leader from the parliamentary segment.
From “technical” errors of having missed her name to concerns over possibly giving rise to yet another “dynasty”, with Tejaswini succeeding her husband, rumours are agog over why the political novice name has been withheld.
At the other end, the party has also withheld the name of their Koppal sitting MP Karadi Sanganna on reasons of waiting who the JD(S)-Congress coalition may field.
According to sources, the BJP central leadership is waiting on whether the coalition will field former CM Siddaramaiah from the parliamentary segment, and thereby requiring a stronger candidate than Sanganna who has a anti-incumbency wave.
The party has also decided to not announce its candidate for Mandya, which remains a key constituency in Karnataka with independent Sumalatha Ambareesh (wife of late Congressman M H Ambareesh) contesting against chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.
The party has remained ambivalent over whether to contest from the constituency or extend its tacit support to Sumalatha.
The other key factor in the list confirms that the party has ensured that the two Congress rebels, former Congress minister A Manju from Hassan and Congress rebel MLA Umesh Jadhav from Kalaburgi are also given the tickets to contest against Prajwal Revanna and Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge respectively.