BENGALURU/HUBBALLI: The BJP is likely to field Dr Umesh Jadhav’s brother Ramachandra Jadhav from Chincholi and SI Chikkanagoudar from Kundgol as the party candidates for the May 19 bypolls in the two assembly segments.
On Thursday, the BJP core committee recommended to the high command, two names for each seat; Ramachandra Jadhav and former minister Sunil Valyapure for Chincholi, and SI Chikkanagoudar and MR Patil for Kundgol.
Sources said that the party is likely to finalize Ramachandra Jadhav and Chikkanagoudar’s candidature and the names will be announced soon. Monday is the last date for filing nominations.
The bypolls were necessitated as Congress MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav resigned to contest as the BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha polls, while the Kundgol seat fell vacant due to the death of Congress MLA CS Shivalli.
On Thursday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leaders held a meeting with Congress leaders from Dharwad and Kalaburgi to discuss and finalise the names of party candidates from the two constituencies.
Sources said the party is likely to field CS Shivalli’s wife from Kundagol and Subhash Rathod and Babu Rao Chauhan are the contenders for the party ticket from Chincholi. The party is likely to finalize its candidate on Friday.
While the BJP has almost finalised Chikkanagoudar as its candidate from Kundgol the challenge ahead for the party is to convince the other aspirant M R Patil to support the official candidate.
The party lost the seat in 2018 poll with a narrow margin because of differences between the two leaders.
Before shifting to Kundgol after delimitation of assembly segments in 2008, Chikkanagoudar was elected twice from Kalaghatagi.
In 2008, he won despite the change of constituency. Moreover, he is a staunch supporter of BJP state president Yeddyurappa and followed him to the Karnataka Janata Party in 2013.