Bengaluru: Former health minister and Bellari MP B Sriramulu is all set to contest forthcoming state assembly election which is scheduled to be held in March/ April 2018. BJP national leadership wants him to contest from Bellari rural (reserve-ST) constituency.

According to the party sources, four Members of Parliament- B. Sriramulu (Bellari), Shobha Karandlaje (Udupi-Chickamagalur), Pratap Simha (Mysuru) and PC Mohan (Bengaluru-Central) have expressed their desire to contest in the 2018 assembly election.

“Party central leadership informed party state leaders that none of the sitting MPs will be given tickets in the assembly election. Only Sriramulu may get a ticket to ensure that party will get ST community votes in Hyderbad Karnataka region which is dominated by Lingayat and Valmiki votes. Party think-tanks have assumed that Lingayat+ Valmiki vote bank is the winning combination in and around 40 assembly segments,” sources said.

Meanwhile, party IT cell has created whooping 5,000 Whatsapp groups to reach out to more voters. “We have added around 11 lakh people in these groups. Our main target is to reach more and more people with innovative ideas,” said a senior party leader who is the part of this exercise.