Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who had to quit the BJP in the wake of corruption charges and rejoined recently, is among the 52 candidates finalised by the party today for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The second list of candidates covers six states of Karnataka, Odisha, Tripura, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal.
Among other prominent leaders fielded by the party include another former Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda from Bangalore North, party general secretary Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South and journalist-turned-politician Chandan Mitra from Hoogly in West Bengal.
Yeddyurappa will contest from Shimoga in Karnataka, Ananth Kumar told a press conference while announcing the decision taken at the meeting of the party's Central Election Committee headed by BJP Chief Rajnath Singh and attended by Narendra Modi, L K Advani and other top leaders.
71-yar-old Yeddyurappa had to resign as Chief Minister of the state on Agust 1, 2011, after a corruption case was lodged against him by the State Lokayukta.
He quit the party in November 2012 and formed his own outfit Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) which contested the last assembly polls against the BJP and played a key role in its defeat.
The veteran Lingayat leader from the state, who wields influence on a considerable vote bank in the state, had led BJP to victory in the 2008 assembly elections thus forming the first BJP government in south India.
The BJP had released a list of 54 candidates in its first list on February 27. The next list would be released on March 13.
