A 37-year-old, right wing Kannada newspaper columnist and author of a book on Narendra Modi, is the surprise Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Mysore Lok Sabha constituency.
Popular right-wing columnist Prathap Simha, featured at the centre of an alleged terrorism plot in 2012 when the police arrested a group of 12 Muslim youths from Bangalore and Hubli for allegedly planning to kill the provocative, right wing columnist in an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked plot.
Simha, who is a political novice but an ardent Modi fan, is the author of a biography on the BJP?s prime ministerial candidate titled Narendra Modi: The Untrodden Road. He has been chosen over veteran BJP and Kuruba leader from Mysore C H Vijayshankar, who was offered the Hassan seat as an alternative but has refused.
Simha faces veteran Congressman and Kuruba leader H Vishwanath, the sitting MP from Mysore.
Thursday?s list of Lok Sabha candidates announced by the BJP also includes the name of G S Basavaraj from Tumkur. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had warned the party of ?serious? consequences if Basavaraj, the sitting MP, was not given a ticket.
Another close aide of Yeddyurappa, Shoba Karandlaje, is being fielded from Udupi-Chikamagalur which is currently held by Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress.
A former Karnataka State Pollution Control Board official has been picked for Mandya, in the Vokkaliga heartland, against film actress and Congress MP Ramya.