Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Ministers S Jaishankar, Smriti Irani and Nitin Gadkari, have been named among 40 star campaigners by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka.
The candidate list released on Friday, March 29 by the Karnataka BJP unit includes 10 Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of three states and state leaders. Senior BJP leaders in the state who were denied tickets for the Lok Sabha election have been named as star campaigners. The star campaigners will participate in meetings, conventions and roadshows in the state and be a part of campaigning for the BJP.
Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, Karnataka BJP Election in-Charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are also named as star campaigners.
Those BJP leaders who have been denied tickets such as former Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda from the Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, BJP MP Pratap Simha from the Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency, former Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel from Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency and Union Minister of State A Narayanaswamy from the Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency have been named as star campaigners by the BJP as well.
The firebrand right-wing leader and BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal's name has also been included in BJP's star campaigner list. Yatnal has been criticising Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra and former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa.
The other prominent names in the star campaigner list include BS Yediyurappa, BY Vijayendra, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje, Karnataka Leader of Opposition R Ashoka, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, senior BJP leader Sudhakar Reddy and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, former BJP National General Secretary CT Ravi, former Deputy Chief Ministers Govind Karjol, CN Ashwath Narayan, former Minister B Sriramulu, Arvind Limbavali, V Sunil Kumar.