The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held multiple rounds of meetings to finalise a list of its candidates for the Karnataka Assembly polls. However, it all went in vain as the leaders could not reach a consensus, sources said.
Surprisingly, when Karnataka’s top BJP leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, veteran BS Yediyurappa was not present in that meeting. As soon as the meeting was over, Yediyurappa reached the venue to meet Shah separately.
Soon after this meeting, BJP leaders reached BJP National President JP Nadda’s residence without Yediyurappa. The former CM met Nadda later separately.
According to sources, Yediyurappa is adamant about the number of seats and is not ready to soften his stand. Some top ministers of the Karnataka government are asking for tickets for their sons or family members while some have asked to change their constituencies.
The MLAs, who switched to the BJP from Congress and Janata Dal (S) who do not get tickets, may go back.
Shah, who visited Arunachal Pradesh today, will return to Delhi tomorrow and is likely to chair another meeting with the Karnataka core group before finalizing the candidate list.
Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said the party has noted and will take of suggestions given by Yediyurappa.
“BS Yediyurappa was there for three days in two meetings under the leadership of JP Nadda ji. He was also present at the Parliamentary board meeting. Whatever last-minute suggestions he gave, it has been noted and we’ll take care of it,” ANI quoted Bommai as saying.
“We had an in-depth discussion over all 224 constituencies. We also sat and discussed the roadmap for campaigning in the entire state and we got a blueprint ready. We’re going to have a very systematic and scientific campaign this time,” he added.
Elections to the 224-member assembly will take place on May 10 and the nomination process will begin on April 13.
With inputs from News18
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