Bengaluru: Firebrand Uttara Kannada BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde has been denied the party ticket to contest the LS polls, while former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has been given the ticket from Belagavi.

The BJP announced its fifth list of candidates for the LS polls, according to which the names of candidates for four LS seats in Karnataka find mention.

As per the latest list, former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who returned to the party fold earlier this year, has been given the BJP ticket to contest from Belagavi, where he will Mrinal Hebbalkar of the Congress. Mrinal is the son of Women and Child Welfare Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar. The Belagavi seat is currently represented by Mangala Angadi, wife of late Union Minister Suresh Angadi. Mangala is also the in-law of Shettar.

Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde, who of late is in the news for wrong reasons, has been denied the party ticket. Hegde has been replaced by former Karnataka Minister and Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri. Kageri will face Anjali Nimbalkar of the Congress in a direct contest. Anjali is the wife of IPS Officer Hemanth Nimbalkar.

The BJP also announced the names of its candidates from Chikkaballapur and Raichur LS seats. Former Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar has got the party ticket to contest from Chikkaballapur.  Raja Amareshwara Naik is the BJP’s choice for Raichur LS seat. Though there was a bitter struggle between B.V. Nayak and Amareshwara Naik for the party ticket, the BJP High Command chose Raja Amareshwara Naik over B.V. Nayak. Amareshwara Naik is said to be a close relative of Ballari candidate and former Minister B. Sriramulu.

With the announcement of 4 candidates on Sunday, the BJP is left with naming of its candidate for only Chitradurga (SC) seat, out of the 25 seats that it will contest from the State. The BJP has left the three other seats to its alliance partner-JD(S), which will contest from Mandya, Hassan and Kolar (SC) seats. However, the JD(S) is yet to announce the name of its candidates for the 3 seats that it is going to contest.