Will finalise candidates by September: BS Yeddyurappa

With barely 11 months to go for the 2018 Assembly poll, the BJP has begun preparing a list of  probable candidates for the various constituencies and hopes to complete the process by September, according to BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said the party would choose the right candidate  from among the  three to five aspirants in each constituency after conducting a final survey of the ground situation .

 BJP national president,  Amit Shah was expected in the city on August 2 on a three- day visit to  meet party office bearers and second rung leaders, he added.

Asked about senior leader, K S Eshwarappa, starting his own tour of drought-hit districts, ignoring the official party tour starting on May 18, Mr Yeddyurappa said he had every right to assess the drought in his capacity as leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. As for his own tour , he said he would visit drought-hit districts of the state over a period of  36 days, kicking off from Tumakuru on May 18.  Union Ministers, Ananth Kumar, D.V. Sadananda Gowda and  Ramesh Jigajinagi, and Opposition leaders of both the Houses of state legislature, Jagadish Shettar and K.S. Eshwarappa were expected to attend the inaugural function in Tumakuru. Deploring that the state government had failed to provide drought relief on a war footing, he alleged that the  administration had collapsed and reeked of corruption. Hitting out at CM Siddaramaiah for accusing the BJP of being corrupt while in government , Mr. Yeddyurappa said he had no right to speak about his party when he had weakened the  institution of the Lokayukta by constituting the ACB.