Karnataka Assembly Election 2018: At least five candidates in BJP's second list have tainted past

Bengaluru: The BJP’s second list of candidates for the Karnataka Assembly elections on 12 May contains at least five names with a tainted past. The list, comprising 82 names, has candidates, who were acquitted in corruption, forgery, cheating and rape cases. At least two of them had spent quite some time in jail on charges of cheating and forgery. [caption id=“attachment_4401501” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The names that have raised eyebrows are Katta Subramanya Naidu and Krishnaiah Setty who were jailed in land scams but acquitted later. Setty, who will contest from Malur, was BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa’s companion in jail as he was a co-accused in a multi-crore land scam in 2011. On the other hand, Katta Subramanya Naidu, who has been given ticket from Shivajinagar constituency, was jailed on charges of a land scam involving his firm Itasca in 2011. The charges against Naidu were that as a minister, he knew about an industrial project of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Authority near Kempegowda International Airport and tried to make a windfall gain by entering into an agreement with the land losers. Though the BJP national president Amit Shah denied any relationship with mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, the party gave ticket to his brother G Somashekhara Reddy to fight from Ballari city. He was an accused in the cash for bail scam to get his jailed brother mining baron Janardhana Reddy released on bail. Somashekhara Reddy was accused of trying to bribe a judge. The party gave ticket to Haratalu Halappa to contest from Sagar constituency. He has been acquitted in a rape case. He was accused of raping his friend’s wife in Shivamogga in 2009. The court dismissed the case for want of evidence. MP Renukacharya, who will fight the electoral battle from Honnalli, was accused of sexually harassing a nurse when he was a minister in Yeddyurappa’s ministry. The minister later said the nurse withdrew cases against him. The BJP has also given ticket to party-hopper NL Narendra Babu, who was with the Congress. Babu had been hinting at his entry for the past six months. He had even attended the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Dharma Sansad at Udupi last year. In power from 2008 to 2013, BJP is hoping to unseat the Congress government and stage a comeback. _Click here to follow detailed coverage of the Karnataka Assembly Election 2018_