K'taka bypolls: BJP fields ex-CM Bommai's son from Shiggaon; suspense continues on Channapatna seat

Bengaluru, Oct 20 (IANS) The BJP has announced its nominees for Shiggaon and Sandur Assembly bypolls in Karnataka while the candidate for the high-profile Channapatna constituency is yet to be named.

The party on Saturday fielded former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's son Bharath B. Bommai from the Shiggaon seat and state ST Morcha chief Bangaru Hanumanthu from the Sandur seat.

The Shiggaon seat was represented by Basavaraj Bommai and has fallen vacant after he contested and won the Lok Sabha election from the Haveri parliamentary seat.

Bharath Bommai has obtained an MBA degree from the Singapore Management University after completing the Bachelor of Engineering degree from Purdue University in the US.

Bangaru Hanumanthu has done BA, B.ed. The BJP party has never won from the Sandur (ST reserved) constituency.

Karnataka BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra called on party workers during an event earlier in the day to create history by winning the seat.

Vijayendra congratulated Bharat Bommai and Bangaru Hanumantu for being selected as the party candidates. "I request the party workers to engage in election activities like warriors from this moment onwards to ensure victory for the NDA candidates in all three constituencies," he said.

Following the alleged Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board scam, in which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's name has surfaced, the BJP is hopeful to wrestle the seat.

Mining baron and MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy, who has joined the BJP, is expected to play an important role in the Sandur bypolls.

The Sandur seat was represented by the sitting Congress MP E. Thukaram. He resigned from the minister's post to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Bellary seat. Thukaram defeated BJP's heavy-weight candidate B. Sriramulu.

Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to finalise the candidate for the Channapatna seat, formerly represented by Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. The BJP is negotiating with Kumaraswamy to field its senior leader C.P. Yogeshwara from Channapatna. However, Kumaraswamy is insisting on fielding a candidate from his party JD-S.

According to sources, Kumaraswamy wants to field his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Channapatna and the final decision is likely to be taken in a day or two.

--IANS

mka/sha