BENGALURU: The BJP high command has chosen Eranna Kadadi from Belagavi and Ashok Gasti from Raichur as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka which will be held on June 19.
A day before the last date to file nominations, the high command cleared two names which came as a surprise for many. Only on Friday, the state core committee had sent a list of three including hotelier Prakash Shetty, sitting Rajya Sabha MP Prabhakar Kore and Ramesh Katti, the brother of Umesh Katti.
With 117 MLAs, the BJP can win two seats without any hurdle. The high command rejected all three names and two others emerged as dark horses.
Eranna is a Lingayat leader who served as Belagavi district BJP president, while Gasti from the Savitha community is an advocate based in Raichur.
On the other hand, the Congress has fielded senior leader and former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and the JDS will be fielding former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda with the help of the Congress. AICC president Sonia Gandhi spoke to Gowda on Sunday evening.