Bengaluru: The banner of revolt by disappointed ticket aspirants in a number of constituencies seems to be keeping the BJP leadership on tenterhooks, as it resorts to douse the fire with less than a month to go before the Assembly polls.
The decision of former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and former deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi to quit the BJP after the party decided not to field them in the May 10 elections, has given a jolt to the party. The BJP has so far announced candidates in 212 constituencies out of the total 224 in two lists. According to party sources, there seems to be revolt in about two dozen Assembly segments.
The national party has pressed its leaders into action for damage control. Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan (poll in-charge), Pralhad Joshi, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Yediyurappa, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel are engaged in trouble-shooting exercises. Also, some RSS leaders are said to have been roped in to pacify the dissidents.
The BJP in the first two lists has dropped at least 17 sitting MLAs and has fielded 67 new candidates. Among the legislators who have resigned from the post and the primary membership of the party include – MLAs M P Kumaraswamy (Mudigere), Goolihatti Shekhar (Hosadurga), and MLCs Laxman Savadi (Athani) and R Shankar (Ranebennur).
Several other leaders or legislators who have not got the ticket have openly expressed their angst and have said that they will decide on their next move in a couple of days. The decision of Shettar, a prominent Lingayat leader from north Karnataka, may adversely impact the party’s prospects in a number of segments in the region, according to political observers.
Shettar, Savadi join Cong
Former Karnataka chief minister and six-time BJP MLA Jagadish Shettar and former deputy CM Laxman Savadi joined the Congress. After Savadi, Shettar is the second prominent Lingayat face from North Karnataka to leave the BJP in less than a week. Irreparable differences cropped up between Shettar and the BJP after he was denied a ticket to contest the Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency that he has won six times consecutively since 1994. He will contest as a Congress candidate from Hubballi-Dharwad Central, announcing that he will file his nominations on April 19 and hold a public rally in Hubballi. Congress gave Savadi ticket from Athani in Belagavi district.