BJP Picks Dharmendra Pradhan As In-Charge For High-Stakes Karnataka Polls

By OB Bureau On Feb 4, 2023

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been appointed in-charge for the forthcoming high-stakes assembly elections in Karnataka, a party release said on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu BJP unit president K Annamalai will be the co-incharge.

Dharmendra had earlier served as election in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, where the BJP cruised to power becoming the first party in over 30 years to form the government for a second term in a row.

Amid apprehensions that the 2023 Karnataka polls may again throw up a hung verdict, the ruling party and the opposition Congress have launched intensive public outreach for the elections likely to be held in April-May. Aam Aadmi Party will also fight in all the 224 Assembly constituencies across the state.

In 2004, 2008 as well as 2018, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka but fell short of the halfway mark of 113 seats in the 224-member Assembly.