K'taka bypolls: BJP announces M Sharavana as candidate from Shivajinagar constituency

The BJP on Thursday announced M Sharavana as its candidate for the Shivajinagar Assembly constituency for the upcoming by-polls in the state.

Sharavana's name was announced by the BJP in its second list.

Earlier a staunch Congress supporter, Sharavana's wife was an independent corporator. He was given the ticket from BJP soon after his joining the party today.

By giving the ticket to Sharavana, the party has denied the ticket to R Roshan Baig, a disqualified Congress leader, who was not inducted into the BJP reportedly due to the IMA Ponzi scam and allegations against him in RSS worker Rudresh's murder case.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Roshan Baig is likely to fight the election from the Shivajinagar seat as an independent candidate after being denied tickets by the BJP.

Earlier today, the BJP had announced 13 candidates, including the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs, in its first list for the by-polls scheduled to be held on December 5.

15 of the 17 disqualified MLAs from Congress and JD(S) joined BJP in the presence of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and today. While Baig was not inducted, MTB Nagaraj is already a member of the ruling party in the state.