BJP aspirants seek replacement of sitting MLC in West Graduates’ Constituency

Hubballi: Following the Congress party's announcement of its candidate for the forthcoming West Graduates' Constituency, political activity within the BJP intensified, with ticket aspirants stepping up efforts to influence the party's decision-making. The developments triggered a co-ordinated push by a group of leaders and hopefuls who sought a change in the BJP's candidate for the constituency and urged the party high command and the state unit to deny renomination to sitting MLC SV Sankanur.

According to party sources, as many as 16 aspirants, many apart from Sankanur, came together and began meeting senior leaders to press their case. The group already held discussions with the BJP state President and other prominent leaders in the state, placing before them a clear demand that the party should field a candidate with a stronger organisational and ideological background within the BJP. They argued that the ticket should go to someone who rose through the party structure and was consistently active in party programmes, rather than being automatically extended to the incumbent.

Sankanur, who represented the West Graduates' Constituency twice as a BJP MLC, now faces internal resistance from within the party ranks. The aspirants' collective approach was seen as an attempt to build pressure on both state and central leaderships to consider alternatives. With the election atmosphere building up and rival parties moving quickly, the BJP's decision on the West Graduates' Constituency ticket was expected to become a key internal issue in the coming days, as competing claims and lobbying continued within the party.

BJP state disciplinary committee chairman Lingaraj Patil, Jayateertha Katti, Veeresh Sanglad, Kiran Uppar, Rajanna Koravi, Dr Mahesh Nalwad, Ravi Dandin, Suddhindra Deshpande, Bojaraj Karudi, and others were aspirants for the ticket for the West Graduates' Constituency election.

Lingaraj Patil, an aspirant, said that he worked for the party for over 3 decades and was confident the party would consider his name this time. Aspirants in a group approached the party leaders and others, he added.

Jayateertha Katti, a senior leader of the BJP, said aspirants with party and organisation backgrounds recently approached all the party leaders, mainly BJP state president BY Vijayendra, Union minister Pralhad Joshi, and other leaders, and requested consideration of a candidate from a party or organisation background for the West Graduates' Constituency election.