Yogeshwar still holds out hope for Channapatna ticket

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: BJP MLC CP Yogeshwar on Friday laid claim to National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidacy for the Channapatna Assembly seat once again. He made the comments in the backdrop of a meeting he attended with JD(S) leaders like former MP CS Puttaraju and MLA A Manju. Yogeshwar is a five-time MLA from Channapatna but was unseated by former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in 2018. There was a repeat of the same result in 2023. However, Kumaraswamy had to resign as Channapatna MLA after he won from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat and landed a Union Ministry.

Yogeshwar is now staking a claim to the Channapatna ticket but JD(S) is of the opinion that the lone NDA candidate must be from their camp since they won the seat twice in a row. Kumaraswamy favours his son and JD(S) Karnataka youth wing president Nikhil for the ticket. The BJP high command is said to have given a green light to Kumaraswamy to name a candidate and Nikhil is the favourite. However, Yogeshwar is still hopeful. “I spoke to my senior JD(S) friends. We have all been active in politics for a long time. We sat together and talked. I, as an individual, have staked a claim. I have requested leaders from both parties to give me an opportunity. There will be one or two more meetings. There might be another meeting tomorrow and then another at the Delhi level. Then Kumaraswamy and our (BJP) leaders will announce it,” Yogeshwar told mediapersons.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the seat is October 25. The polling date is November 13 and the results will be out on November 23. Kumaraswamy, who was visiting Mandya for a job fair, was tight-lipped on the issue. Asked if someone from former Prime Minister HD Devegowda’s family would contest from Channapatna, he said: “Ours is not just Devegowda’s family. Ours is the NDA family. There’ll be an NDA candidate.”