Chandrasekhar out, Bhandage in as BJP RS candidate from K’taka

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The BJP raised eyebrows on Sunday when it named former MLC Narayansa K Bhandage as a candidate in Karnataka for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The announcement came as a surprise as Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an Upper House MP from Karnataka was left out.

Bhandage was one of the 14 candidates named for the Rajya Sabha polls by the saffron party.

As many as 56 seats from the Upper House across 15 states will go to polls on February 27 and the last date for filing nominations is February 15.

Bhandage said that he has been associated with the BJP’s parent body, the RSS, since he was 17.

He had joined the Jana Sangh, formerly the political wing of the RSS in 1973 but had served in the erstwhile Janata Party as well. Sudhanshu Trivedi (Uttar Pradesh) is the only outgoing MP renominated by the BJP.

Other notable candidates include former Union minister RPN Singh, also from UP.

There is a possibility of Chandrasekhar contesting the coming Lo Sabha polls from a seat in Karnataka which could be the reason why he has been left out, said sources.

Many senior BJP MPs among the 25 who won the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 including V. Srinivasprasad and DV Sadananda Gowda, are either planing to retire from the field or are unwilling to contest.

There are also reports that those like Nalin Kum a r Kateel, Bhagwant Khuba and Karadi Sanganna are not likey to secure party tickets this time for a variety of reasons.

A number of fresh faces are therefore most likely in the BJP list. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who is also a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, has not yet completed her tenure.