Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 16: Suspense over who will finally enter the legislative council from the state assembly quota continues within the BJP, as, for the Rajya Sabha election, the high command had chosen its own candidates, overlooking the list sent by the state unit of the party.

Even though the BJP core committee which met on Monday made four choices, it has decided that the list can be sent to the centre only after holding discussions with the top leadership because of the loss of face suffered in Rajya Sabha elections.

The names of three persons who crossed over to the saffron party during the Operation Lotus, M T B Nagaraj, H Vishwanath, and R Shankar, and former MLA, Sunil Valyapure, who will be representing the long term loyals of the party, have been chosen. These four names however, are likely to be given the go ahead by the national leadership of the party.

At the same time, the core committee decided to leave the issue of nominating people to the nominated quota in the council to the party high command.

In the Congress too there is competition between the longtime loyalists and newcomers for the council elections. The state leaders, in order to avoid friction, have forwarded their list of probables to the high command secretly.

In the meanwhile, JD(S) is eligible for one seat in the council. 29 aspirants have applied for the seat. The discretion about the choice of candidate has been now vested with the national president of the party, H D Deve Gowda.