BJP names Arif for Kaisarganj

Anantha Kumar, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from his old seat, Bangalore South, but former Union minister of the state and five-time MP from Mangalore, V Dhananjaya Kumar, has been dropped from the BJP seat that will be contested by Vokkaliga candidate DV Sadanand Gowda.

In the Lok Sabha list, SBPK Satyanaryanan Rao Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh) has also been dropped while new entrants Mohammed Arif Khan and Satpal Malik will contest from Kaisarganj and Baghpat, respectively.

In the third list of Lok Sabha candidates released by the BJP today, 20 names were unveiled for Karnataka. Former Karnataka bureaucrat HT Sangliyana has been fielded from Bangalore North (where he will face Congress Muslim strongman and sitting MP CK Jaffer Sharief) and recent entrant from the Congress and sitting MP, S Bangarappa, has been nominated from Shimoga. A woman leader and former minister Manorama Madhavaraj has been fielded from Udupi to face sitting Congress MP Vinay Kumar Sorake.

In Kolar and Belgaum where a number of late RK Hegde's followers have joined the Congress and could prove to be a challenge to the BJP, the party has fielded DS Veeraiah and Suresh Angadi respectively. The Congress too is facing some infighting with a rebellion in the ranks after sitting Kolar MP KH Muniyappa's supporters made it plain that they felt threatened by the entry of the Janata Dal group.

The BJP has not named an MP yet for Mandya, the sphere of influence of Karnataka Chief Minister, SM Krishna. The Congress has already announced that former film star Ambareesh will be repeated in Mandya the seat that is currently held by him.

In Mysore, held by Congress MP Srikanta Dutta Wodeyar, the scion of the royal family, the BJP has fielded CH Vijayshankar who defeated Wodeyar in a shock upset in the 1996 Lok Sabha election.

The BJP finalised a third list of 53 candidates in 10 states. Besides candidates for five Assembly seats in UP, 15 in Orissa and 125 in Karnataka were also finalised., BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said. Mahajan said no one from Karnataka would be projected as party's chief minister candidate. "The chief minister will be decided after the elections," he said.

A number of Assembly seats for Karnataka were also announced. Former state party president BS Yediyurappa is being fielded from the Shikaripur assembly seat and Jagadish Shettar has been renominated for the Hubli rural constituency.

In Uttar Pradesh, Assembly Speaker Kesarinath Tripathi is the BJP candidate from Machhilishahar. Of the five Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, three are sitting members and all are union ministers - Bandaru Dattatreya (Secunderabad), UV Krishnam Raju (Narsapur) and CH Vidyasagar Rao (Karimnagar).

Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla has been selected to contest from Janjgir in Chhattisgarh.