With barely a few weeks remaining for one of the most keenly awaited electoral contests before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka is seeing a string of defections from leaders who seek tickets to fight the assembly elections.
The party is facing rebellions and resignations, with several excluded leaders defecting to the Congress to obtain tickets.
Former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who was denied a ticket by the BJP to contest the May 10 Assembly elections in the state, resigned as MLA and from the primary membership of the party on April 16. The influential leader of the Lingayat community, which can determine the electoral outcome in the state, joined the Congress the next day.
Shettar, a six-time MLA from Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency, who won all elections as a BJP candidate, was seeking a ticket from this constituency. However, his demand was turned down as the party wanted to make way for a new face. BJP state general secretary Mahesh Tenginakai will now contest on a BJP ticket from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly seat.
Accusing the BJP leadership of humiliating him, Shettar took to Twitter and said, “Fed up with the political events of the past few days, I have resigned from my MLA seat and will discuss my next move with the activists.”
In an open letter, which he posted on social media, Shettar expressed anger against a few “insiders” in the BJP for the latest developments. He claimed that a few individuals are controlling the party in the state and central leaders are not aware of what’s going on. “They are now insulting those who played an important role in building the party in the state,” he said.
As a BJP member, Shettar was president of the Karnataka unit, leader of opposition in the Legislative Assembly, minister in BJP governments, Speaker of the Assembly, and Chief Minister.
He was a minister in the BJP government led by former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and when the Cabinet was dissolved after the CM’s resignation in July 2021, Shettar refused to be a part of the Basavaraj Bommai government.
Shortly after Shettar joined the Congress on Monday, KPCC president DK Shivakumar handed the ‘B’ form to the Lingayat leader to fight polls from Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency, which he represented in the outgoing Assembly.
Speaking on the occasion, Shettar said that many in Karnataka are surprised that he has joined the Congress, adding that he built the party along with former Union minister Ananth Kumar and former CM BS Yediyurappa but nobody understood his pain.
He added that he has taken this decision after seeking the views of well-wishers. “A new chapter in my political life begins,” he said.
In an earlier jolt to the BJP, former deputy Chief Minister and three-time MLA from Athani in Belagavi district Laxman Savadi also quit the party and and resigned as an MLC to join the Congress on April 14 after being denied a ticket to contest the Athani seat in the district.
The ticket was given to Mahesh Kumathalli, the sitting MLA from Athani. Savadi lost in the 2018 elections to Kumathalli (then in the Congress)
While Savadi has a controversial past, having been caught in a scandal in 2012 where he and a colleague were allegedly watching pornographic clips on a mobile phone in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Congress party insiders believe his entry will address the Congress party’s lack of a Lingayat leader of influence in Belagavi district and eventually change the equation in its favour in Athani and neighbouring constituencies.
Savadi, who had been with the BJP for over 20 years, expressed his loyalty to the Congress and vowed to work diligently for the party.
However, one of the questions haunting Karnataka politics since two big-ticket exits from the BJP ahead of the state elections is if the guidelines laid down by Modi and Shah to pick candidates for polls — like age cut-offs for veterans and a ban on dynastic politics — have been selectively used to weed out rivals, by party leaders currently in control of the state BJP, reported The Indian Express.
Many BJP insiders say the ticket distribution has gone completely against the leadership’s norms. Not only are relatives of several party leaders in the race, veterans like G H Thippareddy, 75, have been fielded while others like Shettar have been sidelined.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday the exit of Shettar from the BJP would have no adverse impact on the party’s prospects in the forthcoming Assembly elections, and he was surprised by his decision to join the Congress.
Bommai also dismissed Shettar’s accusation that he was not given respect in the BJP and there was a conspiracy behind the move to drop him as a candidate.
Shettar was treated with a lot of respect and the party had given him positions. “In his growth in the last 25 years, the BJP played a main role”, the Chief Minister said, adding that his departure has paved the way for emergence of new leadership in the region.