Bengaluru, 14 March

A day after BJP announced its first list of candidates for 20 Lok Sabha constituencies for Parliament elections, discontent has started brewing among the ticket aspirants who were denied a ticket.

Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who was expecting a ticket from Haveri or Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency, said he will arrive at a decision on Thursday. According to him, he is still in talks with the seniors in BJP regarding the Belagavi seat.

Shettar had returned to BJP in January after quitting Congress, which gave him a ticket for the 2023 Assembly polls. Though he had lost that election, Congress nominated him as a Member of the Legislative Council. Incidentally Shettar had quit BJP before the elections as he had been denied a ticket. Shettar's supporters claim that he was offered a Lok Sabha ticket in the 2024 elections by BJP. Shettar denied being made a scapegoat by BJP,

Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi said, "Shettar has said that his name is there for Belagavi constituency. I too know this. I will be happy if he gets the ticket from Belagavi or any other place because he is our very senior leader."

Another BJP leader left disappointed after the first list was former Deputy Chief Minister KS Eshwarappa. He was aspiring for a ticket for his son KE Kantesh. Eshwarappa accused the former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who is in the BJP's apex body parliamentary board member, of chucking out his son from the Lok Sabha election. "There is a pressure on me to contest the election independently," Eshwarappa told reporters in Shivamogga.

He alleged that Yediyurappa had assured ticket to his son and also promised to campaign for his victory but "cheated him." BJP on Wednesday named former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai for the Haveri seat.

Sitting BJP MP and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, who has been denied a ticket from Bengaluru North constituency, on Thursday called on Eshwarappa. "He is deeply pained. I got to know that he is convening a meeting tomorrow (on Friday) in Shivamogga. Hence, I came to meet him," Gowda told reporters after meeting Eshwarappa.

Gowda too is said to be sulking as the BJP has replaced him with Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje from Bengaluru North. Supporters of sitting BJP MP from Koppal, Karadi Sanganna, went on a rampage after he was denied a ticket. The group blocked the entry of Basavaraj Kuavator, the party's candidate from Koppal, when he came to meet Sanganna at his residence. They vandalised the BJP office in Koppal, breaking the window panes and furniture. PTI