Bengaluru: Setting at rest all speculations on its choice of party candidates, the BJP on Friday announced its candidates for 20 of the 25 Legislative Council seats from Local authorities constituencies, for which the polls are scheduled to take place on Dec.10.

As per the announcement, R. Raghu Kautilya is the BJP’s choice for the dual-member Mysuru-Chamarajanagar seat, while the party has picked Suja Kushalappa from Kodagu and Manju K.R. Pet (Bookahalli Manju) from Mandya.

Raghu Kautilya, a native of Mysuru and a close associate of former CM B.S. Yediyurappa, is currently the Chairman of D. Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation. He had narrowly lost the last elections and the BJP has fielded him again, considering that he stands a better chance this time, with the party in power in the State.

Though there were reports of sitting MLC Sandesh Nagaraj, who had maintained a distance from his party, the JD(S), was lobbying for the BJP ticket, the party has opted to field Raghu Kautilya once again.

The party has chosen Suja Kushalappa from Kodagu, replacing the incumbent MLC Sunil Subramani. Interestingly, both Suja Kushalappa and Sunil Subramani are younger brothers of Madikeri MLA M.P. Appachu Ranjan.

For Mandya seat, the party has chosen Bookahalli Manju, a close confidant of former CM B.S. Yediyurappa. Manju had contested and lost from Mandya district’s  K.R. Pet Assembly segment in the 2018 Assembly polls.

As far as Hassan is concerned, the BJP has fielded H.M. Vishwanath, a veteran politician and a two-time MLA  from Sakleshpur.