Denied ticket, K'taka Minister says he will not campaign for BJP, quit politics

Dakshin Kannada (Karnataka) [India], April 13 : Denied ticket for the upcoming Assembly polls in Karnataka, state Minister and six-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Angara S on Wednesday said that he would not campaign for the party while also announcing his exit from political activity.

The BJP announced the names of 189 candidates in the first list on April 11 and 23 candidates in the second list on April 12. Angara's name was missing from both the lists.

He is an MLA from Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka and was denied a ticket to contest from the same seat this time which is reserved for Scheduled Castes candidate. Bhagirathi Murulya was given a ticket from the seat.

Reacting to the development, the Minister said that his honesty was his "setback".

"Lobbying was not my hobby," he said.

"I won't be in politics anymore, not even in the election campaign. Party (BJP) can take care of the new candidate," the Minister added.

In the first list announced by the BJP, the party has given ticket to several young faces. As many as 52 new faces have been given ticket.

32 candidates belong to the OBC community while the list has 30 candidates from the Scheduled Caste community.

In the second list, the party has replaced 7 sitting MLAs.

As per the list, Nagaraja Chabbi who recently joined BJP from the Congress has been given the ticket to contest from the Kalghatgi constituency.

Ashwini Sampangi the daughter of ex-MLA Y Sampangi will contest from Kolar gold fields (KGF).

NR Santosh who is a close relative of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa did not find a place on the second list. GV Basavaraju got a ticket to fight from the Arsikere constituency.

From the Mudigere constituency, Deepak Doddaiah has been given the ticket by the party. The sitting MLA from Mudigere Kumar Swamy could not make it to the list.

BJP has given the ticket to Gururaj Gantihole from the Byndoor constituency. He replaces sitting MLA Sukumar Shetty who did not get the ticket.

In the newly released list, Shivakumar got the ticket from Channagiri which was the seat of Madal Virupakshappa. It has to be noted that none from Madal Virupakshappa's family found their place on the list.

Recently Madal Virupakshappa's family was involved in a corruption case which led to an FIR and Lokayukta raid.

The names of the candidates for the 12 constituencies are still remaining to be declared by BJP which includes constituencies of Hubli Dharwad Central, Krishnaraja, Shivamogga, Mahadevpura etc.

The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled on May 13.

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