Bengaluru: The BJP on Tuesday dismissed a purported list of BJP candidates for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka that is in circulation on social media as "fake", and alleged that it was a "lie manufactured in the Congress factory". The ruling party said it has not yet released the list of candidates and is likely to come out with one after its Parliamentary Board meeting on April 8.
The "fake" four-page list of candidates for 81 constituencies is in circulation on social media with the claim that it had been released by the Central Election Committee of the BJP on Tuesday after a meeting chaired by party national president JP Nadda. However, the party issued a statement quoting its national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh, as saying that the list is fake.
Singh also warned of strict action against those who published such fake news. The BJP state unit took to Twitter to declare that the list is fake, and blamed the Opposition for the same. "Another lie from the Congress' factory of lies. While the process of selecting the BJP candidates is in progress, this list is a fake one," the tweet by the BJP state unit read.
BJP national general secretary and Chikkamagaluru MLA CT Ravi also took to Twitter to trash the list as fake, "CONgress Fake News Factory is circulating an alleged list of @BJP4Karnataka candidates on Social Media. Kannadigas know that we have not finalized our candidates for upcoming Assembly Elections. Fearing its defeat, CONgress has resorted to its usual cheap tactics against BJP," the tweet read.
Meanwhile, the State BJP election committee will hold a two-day meeting on April 5 and 6 to discuss the selection of candidates. The state committee is likely to finalize a list of candidates today, which will then be sent to the central committee. The party's parliamentary board meeting will be held in Delhi on April 8, where a final decision on the list of election candidates will be taken.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the process of selecting candidates for the Assembly polls was being held in a democratic way and it would be completed smoothly with the list being announced after the party's central leadership finalises it on April 8. Asked by reporters if there would be surprise candidates in the fray from the BJP, he said: "Certainly, there is a plan for new experiments in certain constituencies and they will happen.
