New Delhi: Just as it was preparing to announce its list of candidates for the Karnataka Assembly polls, the BJP on Tuesday found itself facing a major challenge as former chief minister and Hubballi MLA Jagadish Shettar pulled out. publicly expressed displeasure. After this the party got this second blow within a day. Other Backward Classes (OBC) face KS Eshwarappa announced his retirement from electoral politics.
Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru, Shettar said, “I have been winning from this seat for the last 30 years, why should I leave the seat for others?” Every internal survey of BJP has shown that I am popular. He also urged the central leadership of the BJP to reconsider their decision.
Earlier in the day, former deputy chief minister Eshwarappa in a letter to BJP national president JP Nadda had said that he had chosen to contest the polls of his own free will. “The party has given me a lot of responsibility in the last 40 years. I went from booth in-charge to Deputy Chief Minister. I thank all the senior leaders of the party for their trust. according to sourcesCalled him to say that he would not get a ticket for the May 10 polls.
Eshwarappa seems to have learned something from former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s book. Rupani did in 2021 unexpectedly resigned As for the CM, even the BJP leadership was gearing up to declare its list of candidates for the state assembly polls. Rupani and three of his ex-cabinet colleagues wrote a similar letter while being ruled out of the contest. their decision there was a time When the party was actively promoting ‘new talent’ in Gujarat instead of veterans.
But these are not the only hurdles the BJP has had to deal with as its hectic discussions on potential candidates went down the drain (the last day for filing nominations is Thursday). BJP sources told ThePrint that The first list of candidates has not been released even two days after the party’s election committee meeting, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the importance of more winnable candidates to defeat the anti-incumbency and “more on seats rather than seats”. fielded ordinary party workers”. Sons and daughters of party leaders.
In the last two days, the party high command has had to do some heavy-handed crisis management to prevent a possible mutiny over the list of candidates, as it is more inclined to put forward fresh faces rather than veterans. This has also contributed to the delay in the announcement, The sources further said.
On Tuesday, Karnataka BJP leaders held another round of consultations with state election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and home minister Amit Shah. Soon after, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the list would be released on Tuesday itself.
BJP is now the only party which has not released its first list of candidates. The Congress and HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) have already done so.
Asked about the delay in releasing the list of candidates, Karnataka BJP spokesperson Ganesh Karnik told ThePrint: “Ticket distribution will be done keeping in mind several factors, but once the list is declared, everyone will win. Will work for sure.”
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Party leaders have been discussing the list since Friday, when Bommai, senior leader BS Yediyurappa and others reached Delhi. The candidates are usually announced the next day after the election committee meeting, but the list is yet to come out as a consensus could not be reached till Tuesday. party sources said.
Yediyurappa returned to Bengaluru on Monday after submitting his list and speaking his mind to the high command, but sources said the reason for the delay was “the Prime Minister’s suggestion that there should be more deliberations on some seats where the high command’s input is more important than this”. Is different.” of state leaders”.
“His suggestion was to deny more sitting MLAs (seats) to beat the anti-incumbency wave. The second was giving tickets to the children of party leaders and giving tickets to only one party. workers, Several rounds of talks have taken place on this in the last two days. Since Home Minister Amit Shah was away, we were asked to wait for his return to give the final go ahead. A Karnataka BJP leader aware of the developments told ThePrint.
The leader further said that to avoid a situation where protests break out at the Bengaluru party office and district office after the announcement of candidates, the party is “taking more time in consultations and crisis management”.
Adding to the delay are demands from senior leaders that their children be given tickets. “BSY (Yeddyurappa) is seeking ticket for his son Vijayendra from Shikaripura… same is the case with some other leaders who are pressurizing their kin,” Another Karnataka BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.
While it was clear that the one-family-one-ticket rule would be followed for the others, the decision on whether Vijayendra would be given a ticket was “left to the highest level”, according to party sources, who said it There was “very little chance” that Yediyurappa’s son would not get the ticket as it could “backfire”.
There is also talk that Eshwarappa, a five-time MLA from Shivamogga, had proposed the name of his son KE Kanthesh for the Shivamogga seat. Senior leader Govind Karjol and ministers V Somanna and MTB Nagaraj have also reportedly sought tickets for their children.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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