Ex-bureaucrat set to contest on BJP ticket from Chitradurga Lok Sabha seat

BENGALURU: Retired IAS officer M Lakshminarayan appears set to contest the general election on a BJP ticket from Chitradurga reserved constituency. The retired bureaucrat has already met several state leaders including state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa had expressed his desire to stand for election. The party is believed to have given him a positive response.
“Yes, I am aspiring to contest from Chitradurga as a BJP candidate,” Lakshminarayan said.“I have already discussed my candidacy with state BJP leaders and I am hopeful that I will get the ticket,” Lakshminarayan, who retired from the service a few months ago, told TOI.
A native of Kolar district, Lakshminarayan was always close to the state BJP leaders and served as principal secretary to Jagadish Shettar and additional chief secretary to Yeddyurappa during his three- day tenure as chief minister last year.
Besides Lakshminarayana, former MP Janardhan Swamy and Basavamurthy Madar Chennaiah, a seer of Madiga community, are also in the race. Swamy, who left his lucrative IT job in the US to seek a career in politics, represented the constituency in 2009. He was defeated in the 2014 election.