BJP yields an inch to save Yediyurappa's face

The BJP named four candidates to contest the Legislative Council elections in Karnataka, and three of them are those backed by chief minister B S Yediyurappa. This allows the chief minister to fulfill promises he made to defectors from the opposition parties last year, and spares him considerable embarrassment had he not been able to make his word prevail. The BJP named Pratap Simha Nayak, M T B Nagaraj, R Shankar and Sunil Valyapure for the election. Except Nayak, all three candidates are backed by Yediyurappa. While Yediyurappa was able to come good on promises he made to R Shankar and M T B Nagaraj, he was not able to push through the candidature of H Vishwanath. All three leaders had defected from the Congress to the BJP by resigning their membership of the Legislative Assembly.