Hegde out, Kageri gets Uttara Kannada; Shettar in Belgaum | India News

BENGALURU: BJP dropped Hindutva firebrand and six-time Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde and ignored the strong pitch made by actor-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, who currently represents Vokkaliga heartland Mandya and aligned with BJP, in the fifth list of LS candidates released on Sunday.

Former speaker of the legislative assembly, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, will instead contest as BJP candidate from Uttara Kannada.

Former CM Jagadish Shettar, who returned to BJP after an eminently forgettable stint with Congress lasting less than a year, will take on Mrunal, son of Karnataka minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, in a high-stake battle for Belgaum.
Shettar will replace incumbent BJP MP Mangala Angadi despite stiff opposition to his candidature at the local level. Shettar’s daughter is married to Mangala’s son.

Former minister K Sudhakar will contest from

Chikkaballapur and sitting MP (from Raichur ST-reserved constituency) Raja Amareshwar Naik is one of the few parliamentarians who will seek re-election.
BJP had announced names for 20 seats 10 days ago and identified candidates for four more seats on Sunday. The party is yet to announce its nominee for Chitradurga.

Ticket denial to Hegde was expected
The party deferred its decision on Chitradurga, where the race for the ticket is between incumbent A Narayanaswamy and former deputy chief minister Govind Karjol.
Three seats -Kolar, Mandya and Hassan – are with its regional alliance partner JD(S). Denial of ticket to Anantkumar Hegde – who sought to extend his lease on the seat after indicating that he might sit out due to health reasons – was not unexpected because of his controversial remarks, including one on changing the Constitution.
K Sudhakar pipped Yelahanka BJP legislator SR Vishwanath’s son to bag Chikkaballapur-seat ticket where the Congress is yet to announce its candidate. Sudhakar was elected thrice from the Chikkaballapur assembly segment before suffering a shock defeat against Congress candidate Pradeep Eswar.
Sumalatha was expected to be accommodated in Bangalore North or in one of the few Vokkaliga-dominated seats, after Mandya candidacy went to the JD(S) as per the alliance agreement.