Parties see hot race for tickets to Nov 13 bypolls in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP, along with its ally JD(S), are facing a contest internally from aspirants who are vying to contest the November 13 bypolls to Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur. 

Channapatna is hogging much limelight as the BJP and JD(S) are unable to arrive at a consensus on who the candidate should be. 

On Wednesday, BJP MLC C P Yogeshwar, a former Channapatna MLA, declared that he will get the ticket as the NDA's candidate. However, the JD(S) wants one of its own to get the ticket as the segment was held by Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy before his election as the Mandya MP. 

Kumaraswamy said the BJP's central leadership has asked him to decide on the Channapatna ticket. "Delhi leaders have left it to me as I represented the constituency earlier," he said. "However, I have requested BJP leaders in the state to organise a meeting to discuss this." 

A BJP-JD(S) meeting is likely to be held this Saturday. "Ultimately, it will be an NDA candidate who will get the ticket and win," Kumaraswamy said. 

In Congress, speculation is rife that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's brother D K Suresh, the former Bangalore Rural MP, will get the Channapatna ticket.

Meanwhile, former MP Tejaswini Gowda is believed to have written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with a request that she should get the Channapatna ticket. 

During the day, Haveri MP Basavaraj Bommai met BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa to discuss the Shiggaon bypoll. The bypoll is happening because of Bommai's election as MP. Bommai, a former chief minister, is likely to visit New Delhi on October 19. 

It is said that Bommai wants his son Bharath to become his successor in Shiggaon, a seat he has represented four times consecutively since 2008. Bommai has firmed on his son's candidature after former minister Murugesh Nirani, who was seeking the ticket, developed cold feet, sources said. 

Congress is under pressure to field a Muslim candidate. The names of former MLA Syed Azeempeer Khadri and 2023 defeated candidate Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan are doing the rounds. 

In Sandur, some BJP leaders want former minister B Sriramulu to contest. However, the ST leader has not agreed. The void has resulted in local BJP leaders to vie for the ticket. The Congress is likely to field a family member of Bellary MP E Tukaram, who was Sandur MLA. 

Expressing confidence that Congress would win the bypolls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Thursday that Congress is likely to finalise tickets in the next few days.

Quote - "Delhi leaders have left it to me as I represented the constituency earlier. However I have requested BJP leaders in the state to organise a meeting to discuss this." JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy