S. A. Hemanth
Bengaluru, April 16: The BJP has held up distributing “B” form to Dr. Chandru Lamani for Shirahatti Assembly Constiruency though his name has been announced in the first list. Reason? He is still a government servant in the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
BJP sources told The Newz Peg that the party is acutely embarrassed as Dr Chandru Lamani’s application for VRS is still pending but the party announced him as candidate.
A government servant cannot become candidate of any party nor can he contest the elections as Independent. He or she has to resign and Mahen once the resignation is accepted, then they can join any party.
In this Shirahatti case, both Dr Chandru Lamani as well as the BJP proved to be “unintelligent.” Neither the candidate informed the party about his VRS application still pending nor the party bothered to ascertain his current position.
“Such things happen if one is arrogant and blind to the reality,” a senior leader admitted.
Dr Chandru Lamani’s candidature was cleared by the BJP state core committee and state parliamentary board before sending it to the Central Parliamentary Board for approval.
“There is no mistake on the part of Central Parliamentary Board. They go by the state unit’s decision and recommendation. But it is the state leadership, more particularly, one man who is managing the whole affairs, should look into the nitty-gritty of such things,” another leader explained.
BJP sources disclosed that the party’s Central Leadership has sought an explanation from the state unit as to how this blunder happened and who was responsible for it.
The BJP state unit was scrambling to find out a fresh candidate to replace Dr Chandru Lamani for Shirahatti.
BJP may get a new face for Shirahatti but the saffron party’s face will continue to remain red for a long time to come.
EOM
