Summary:
BENGALURU: The BJP seems to have decided to face the undercurrents of anti-incumbency, re-nominating all 15 sitting MPs (excluding HN Ananth Kumar) for the Lok Sabha elections. This effectively kills rumours that the party might back independent candidate Sumalatha. The list may have two fresh faces — Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini from Bengaluru South and former Channapatna MLA CP Yogeshwar’s daughter Nisha from Bengaluru Rural.The Karnataka unit of the BJP finalized the list after a marathon meeting on Wednesday. The BJP central election committee is yet to stamp its approval on the list, which has names for all 28 Karnataka constituencies.In Delhi, the party is learnt to have finalised names of over 250 candidates amid strong doubts about the likelihood of some veterans, including LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, contesting the elections. Party sources said BJP’s central board had chosen close to 275 candidates and veterans may not feature among them.The Mandya constituency — which is seeing extreme action with the CM’s son Nikhil taking on another greenhor n Sumalatha Ambareesh — could see a triangular contest with the BJP set to field a candidate from the constituency..