Legislative Council polls: Confusion persists over BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for South Teachers’ constituency

Confusion persists over the BJP-JD(S) alliance’s candidate for the ensuing elections to Legislative Council from South Teachers’ constituency with former Minister S.R. Mahesh claiming that the BJP has ceded the seat to JD(S) while E.C. Ningaraju, whose name had been announced as the candidate by the BJP, ruling out the possibility of a review of his candidature by the saffron party.

Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Monday, Mr. Mahesh, who is also the Working president of JD(S), claimed that the BJP leadership had decided to allow JD(S) to contest from South Teachers’ constituency even though it had announced Mr Ningaraju as its candidate. The BJP leadership has decided to leave the seat for JD(S) after our leaders – former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda took up the matter with the saffron party, he said.

There were two contenders for the seat in the JD(S) – Vivekananda and former MLC K.T. Srikante Gowda. The party leadership will hold talks with both of them on Wednesday and finalise one of them for the contest, Mr. Mahesh said.

When asked when the alliance’s final choice would be made official, Mr. Mahesh said the name would be announced soon after the JD(S) finalised its candidate among either Mr. Vivekanand or Mr. Srikante Gowda.

However, Mr. Ningaraju, a former member of the University of Mysore’s Syndicate and Academic Council, said there has been no precedent of the BJP changing its candidate once an announcement has been made.

He appealed to the JD(S) leaders against creating confusion in the minds of the public by claiming the seat even after an official announcement had been made. He claimed to have called the BJP leaders in the State and Centre for a clarification on the confusion in the media but had been told that there was no precedent of the BJP changing its candidate once an official announcement had been made.

“If the candidate is changed, it will be an embarrassment to both the parties and we will be answerable to the society,” he said while appealing to the JD(S) leadership against building pressure on the BJP.

Mr. Ningaraju said he will be filing his nomination papers on May 16 and expressed hope that the leaders of both the alliance parties – BJP and JD(S) – will be present on the occasion.

Prajwal case

Mr. Ningaraju said the BJP leadership may have decided to field its candidate instead of a JD(S) candidate in the constituency in the backdrop of the sexual harassment case against party MP from Hassan Prajwal Revanna.

He pointed out that there were about 8,500 women voters in the South Teachers’ constituency spread across Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts. The incident would have a bearing on their minds and would likely impact the outcome of the polls, he said.