BENGALURU: J Shantha is the BJP candidate for Ballari Lok Sabha seat, while B Y Raghavendra has been chosen to contest from Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat and former MLA Srikant Kulkarni will enter the fray from Jamkhandi Assembly segment in the bypoll to be held on November 3.
The BJP Core Committee, chaired by party state president B S Yeddyurappa, finalised these candidates here on Tuesday evening.
A committee has been authorised by Yeddyurappa to choose the best possible candidates for the Mandya Lok Sabha seat and Ramanagara Assembly constituency within next the two to three days, BJP State General Secretary Aravinda Limbavali told reporters.
The BJP had given a free hand to party leader B Sriramulu to choose the candidate for Ballari, and the party has decided to field his sister and former MP J Shantha for the seat.
Yeddyurappa had already announced his choice of his son B Y Raghavendra for Shivamogga Lok Sabha and it was approved at the Core Committee meeting. The name of Srikanth Kulkarni was approved after another strong aspirant Sangamesh Nirani agreed to withdraw from the race for Jamkhandi Assembly constituency seat.
The meeting deliberated at length on the strategies to be adopted to exploit the discord between coalition partners Congress and JD(S). Separate teams have been formed to oversee the campaign and game plan to win the bypolls.
A team headed by K S Eshwarappa has been entrusted the responsibility of winning the Shivamogga seat. The team for Ballari is headed by Union minister Ramesh Jigajinagi and B Sriramulu, while the team for Mandya is headed by former Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok. Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is heading the team for Jamkhandi and Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda will lead the battle for Ramanagaram.