Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru/Bengaluru

Mangaluru/Bengaluru, Mar 21: After days of suspense over who would get the BJP tickets for the coming Lok Sabha elections from the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, the party has decided to go with the sitting MPs.

In the list of 182 candidates released by the party at the national level on Thursday March 21, Nalin Kumar Kateel has been chosen as the candidate from Dakshina Kannada constituency and Shobha Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru.

There had been reports that the party was in two minds regarding fielding Shobha Karandlaje again, and a section of party workers in Udupi-Chikkamagaluru had opposed her candidature. There was some opposition to Nalin's candidature too, but it was almost certain that he would be getting the ticket again.

Sitting MP of Mysuru-Kodagu Pratap Simha has been given the ticket again from the same constituency. So also union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada.

Jayaprakash Hegde has not been given the ticket.

B Y Raghavendra, son of BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, has been given the ticket from Shivamogga.

Altogether, the party has released the names of candidates for 21 out of 28 seats in Karnataka.

Other candidates include:

Devendrappa - Ballari
P C Mohan - Bengaluru Central
Suresh Angadi - Belagavi
Prahlad Joshi - Dharwad
G S Basavaraj - Tumakuru
A Manju - Hassan
Sadananda Gowda - Bengaluru North
Shivakumar Udasi - Haveri
Narayana Swamy - Chitradurga
Umesh Jadhav - Kalaburagi
P C Gaddigoudar - Bagalkot
Ramesh Jigajinagi - Vijaypura
Bhagwanth Khuba - Bidar
Gowdar M Siddeshwara - Davangere
Srinivas Prasad - Chamarajanagar
B N Bacchegowda - Chikkaballapur

The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11. The polling in Karnataka will be in two phases on April 18 and 23. The votes will be counted on May 23.