After a long speculation in the ruling Congress party in Karnataka, there was a change in leadership recently and DK Shivakumar was made the Chief Minister in place of S Siddaramaiah. However, there is a lot of resentment among the Kurba community, which is considered important in Karnataka, due to the removal of Siddaramaiah from the post of CM. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to capitalize on this resentment. The party has made Professor M Nagaraj its candidate from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha elections. Nagraj comes from the Kurba community and through this the party is trying to woo this community.
BJP announced the names of its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on Sunday. The party has fielded M Nagaraj from Karnataka and Mahesh Kevat from Madhya Pradesh. Whereas the party has made Lingaraj Patil and Raghu Kautilya its candidates for the Karnataka Legislative Council elections.
The name of Professor M Nagaraj is considered very important among these candidates. He comes from the influential Kurba community. The party's decision to make him a candidate is believed to be an attempt to send a message to the BJP's Kurba community after former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stepped down from the post.
Siddaramaiah is counted among the prominent people of Kurba society. Kurba constitutes about 7 to 9 percent of the total population of the state. It is considered to be of OBC category. BJP decided not to send former Prime Minister and Janata Dal Secular leader HD Deve Gowda to Rajya Sabha again and gave a chance to a young face like Nagaraj in his place.
This decision of the party came as a big blow to the ally party Janata Dal Secular (JDS) because it was expecting that former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda would be sent to the Rajya Sabha again. Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda is currently a Rajya Sabha MP, and his tenure is coming to an end.
JDS MLAs wanted Deve Gowda to be re-nominated as a joint candidate of BJP and JDS alliance on the basis of seniority, but BJP refused to send Deve Gowda to Rajya Sabha again citing age and health reasons.
At present, Nagraj is going to file his nomination on Monday. He is originally a resident of Hubli district of the state. The good thing about him is that he is not associated with any camp in Karnataka BJP politics. Although Nagraj has faced defeat before this election. Earlier, BJP had fielded Professor Nagaraj in the Legislative Council elections, but he lost the election.
Giving information yesterday, BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh said that the Central Election Committee has approved the names of these candidates. Elections for 24 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 states including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Manipur and Karnataka are to be held on June 18. Karnataka Legislative Council elections will also be held on June 18.
