bengaluru in a setback for the jds shivalinga shivacharya pontiff of kabbinakanti mutt its candidate for hirekerur has decided to withdraw from the frayearlier bjp leaders had made frantic efforts to reach out to the pontiff to persuade him to withdraw but he had remained incommunicado throughout the dayspeaking to news channels the seer insisted he would not withdraw under any circumstances while refusing to divulge details about his whereabouts however he relented after some senior religious leaders prevailed upon himlast minute changemeanwhile in a last minute decision the jds replaced kp bachchegowda its candidate for chikkaballapura with political greenhorn n radhakrishnathe election commission which began scrutiny of nominations on tuesday rejected nominations of 54 candidates including bachchegowdas across the 15 assembly segments which will go to polls on december 5 the jds formally announced radhakrishna as its official candidate after bachchegowdas papers were rejected by the returning officer for technical reasonsbachchegowda who represented the segment in the past said he was not keen on contesting but was forced into the fray by the party jds supremo hd deve gowda was keen on my candidature he saidhowever he vowed to work for radhakrishnas victory i will actively campaign for radhakrishna there should not be any doubt for anybody about my commitment to the party he saidmany in political circles see the rejection of bachchegowdas nomination as a well thoughtout strategy by hd kumaraswamy and dk shivakumar to defeat disqualified mla k sudhakar who is in the fray as a bjp nominee radhakrishna is from neighbouring sidlaghatta taluk and many believe he does not stand a chance against the bjps k sudhakarthe bjp which has been facing rebellion in many constituencies continued its efforts to get rebels to withdrawn from the fray yediyurappa summoned deputy cm laxman savadi and senior bjp mla umesh katti to his residence and instructed them to work for the victory of party candidates in belagavi district where bypolls will be held in three seatswhile katti is upset over being denied a ministerial berth savadi is sulking over not being given the ticket to contest from athani the cm reportedly warned both that they would be held responsible if results of kagwad and athani went against the bjp218 candidates in allafter scrutiny of papers 218 candidates including 125 independents remain in the fray the last date for withdrawal of nominations is thursday