Out of 212, nominated 25 contenders including seven new faces from families of its politicians BJP promoting ‘Nepotism’ or ‘Parivarvaad’

BJP the saffron party has been alleging Congress, the opposition party for promoting dynasty politics, but for the upcoming assembly polls on May 10th, the party itself has this time fielded 25 contenders including seven new faces from families of its politicians. This includes father-son, brothers, and family relatives. At least two dozen candidates out of 212 announced by the BJP are there on the list owing to nepotism.  BJP’s stalwart BS Yediyurappa represented the seat of Shikaripura for 7 terms in the assembly, here, Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra is the candidate this time. And his brother BY Raghvendra is the MP from Shivamogga. This way violating the rule of ‘one family, one ticket’ the party has given tickets to two members each from four political families. Apart from this, the BJP party has given two tickets each to some families. 

The Jarkholi brothers- Ramesh and Balachandra have been given BJP tickets. Similarly, late Minister Umesh Katti’s family, i.e., his son Nikhil Katti and brother Ramesh Katti got two tickets. Mining tycoon Gali Janardhana Reddy’s brothers Somashekhar Reddy and Karunakar Reddy are the candidates in the saffron party. Many MLAs and leaders who have political connections have also got the ticket. Gulbarga MP Umesh Jadhav’s son Avinash Jadhav is the candidate from Chincholi. Nippani MLA, Minister Shashikala Jolle is the wife of Chikkodi MP Annasaheb Jolle. Tourism Minister Anand Singh’s son Siddharth Singh has been fielded by the BJP from Vijayanagara. MP Tejasvi Surya’s uncle is the MLA LA Ravi Subramanya. Transport Minister B Sriramulu and his nephew TH Suresh Babu are both BJP candidates. AICC spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said that one of every 6 candidates announced by BJP is blessed with Parivarvaad. Congress party circulated the BJP list of family ties to counter PM Modi’s jibe widely used to target the Congress and Gandhi family. BJP general secretary N.Ravi Kumar said, “I agree there are some instances in BJP where the family members or children have been given tickets. But look at the diversity in the party when it comes to national leadership positions and compare that to Congress or JD(S). In these two parties families run the entire show,” he added. It is to be noted that out of 166 candidates announced by Congress, 37 contenders have family members who are politicians. Similarly, in JD(S), around 10 candidates are relatives of politicians.