Bengaluru: All seven candidates from the three major parties (BJP, Congress and JD-S) are likely to be elected unopposed to the Legislative Council even as the deadline for filing of nomination papers ended yesterday. 

Polling is scheduled to take place on June 29 and it is highly unlikely that the voting may take place as though an independent candidate has filed nomination papers, his nomination is certain to be rejected as there are no proposers.

The ruling BJP has nominated MTB Nagaraj, R. Shankar,  Sunil Valyapure and K. Pratap Simha Nayak, while the Congress has fielded senior party leaders B.K. Hariprasad and Nazeer Ahmed and the JD(S) has fielded party worker Govindaraju.

While MTB Nagaraj and R. Shankar had quit their Assembly seats last year in order to bring the BJP to power, Sunil Valyapure had given up his claim for the BJP ticket from an Assembly seat in Kalaburagi district in the 2018 Assembly polls and Pratap Simha Nayak is a committed party worker, who has served the party for decades in Dakshina Kannada District.

MTB Nagaraj, R. Shankar and A.H. Vishwanath, who all had quit their Assembly seats, had expected to be nominated to the Legislative Council.  While MTB Nagaraj and Vishwanath contested the Assembly bypolls and lost, R. Shankar did not contest. Although the State BJP was in favour of nominating all the three to the Council for sacrificing their seats to bring the BJP to power, the BJP High command favoured only MTB Nagaraj and R. Shankar while leaving out A.H. Vishwanath.

The Congress has nominated party warhorse B.K. Hariprasad and has re-nominated Nazeer Ahmed. Hariprasad, a backward community leader, is a three-time former Rajya Sabha MP and his nomination has sprung a surprise in Congress circles. Nazeer Ahmed is a seasoned politician and is associated with the party for decades.

As far as the JD(S) is concerned, the party has nominated Govindaraju, a party worker from Kolar. Govidaraju was given the ticket as he had laid a strong foundation for the party in the undivided Kolar district.

Not disappointed

Senior BJP leader A.H. Vishwanath, who lost out on the nomination to Legislative Council, said that he was not disappointed for being left out. Speaking to ‘Star of Mysore’, he said that Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa and State BJP Chief Nalin Kumar Kateel had recommended the name of four leaders including his (Vishwanath) to the party High Command. But the party top brass has left him out and he was not disappointed at that. 

Stating that Yediyurappa has talked to him over being left out, he maintained that all BJP leaders had expressed support for him, but the BJP High Command chose to ignore him, for which he does not want to say anything. 

He further said that the party top brass may have favoured the nomination of original BJP leaders or those from Sangh Parivar background, which cannot be said as wrong.

Mysuru District Minister reacts 

Meanwhile, Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar, reacting to Vishwanath’s unsuccessful bid for entering the Legislative Council, said that Vishwanath may get an opportunity in the future.

Speaking to presspersons at Tumakuru this morning after visiting Siddaganga Mutt along with Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil, where he garlanded the statue of late Seer Dr. Shivakumara Swamiji and sought the blessings of Siddalinga Swamiji, Somashekar, who had been supporting the cause of Vishwanath, said that he too had spoken to the Chief Minister on the issue, during which Yediyurppa assured to give him a position in the coming days. 

Maintaining that Yediyurappa has fulfilled 90 percent of the demands of the defector MLAs who had quit their seats last year in order to bring the BJP to power, he said he has hopes that Vishwanath, alongwith other defector MLAs Munirathna and Pratap Gouda Patil too would be given suitable posts in the coming days.