Laxman Savadi is a loyalist of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa
Bengaluru:
Amid growing crisis for the BJP in Karnataka, more and more leaders are pulling out and threatening to quit after the party announced its first list of candidates for next month’s election.
After senior leader Laxman Savadi quit the party this morning, Doddappagouda Patil Naribol, a former BJP MLA, announced his exit. Minister S Angara has threatened to resign. All three have been dropped as candidates.
Laxman Savadi said, “I have taken my decision. I am not one to go around with a begging bowl. I am a self-respecting politician. I am not working under anyone’s influence.”
Sources say that he is in talks with the Congress and may make a change soon. Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, however, told reporters, “He is neither in touch with me nor has he spoken to me.”
Laxman Savadi is a loyalist of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and one of the most powerful Lingayat leaders in the state, known for his organizational skills.
In the 2018 election, he lost to Congress candidate Mahesh Kumatahalli in Athani constituency.
A year later, when mass defections from the Congress-Janata Dal Secular government enabled a coup to the BJP, Laxman Savadi was rewarded for his role, despite a major controversy in 2012 after porn was viewed in the assembly.
Mahesh Kumathahalli, who is among these defectors, is the BJP candidate from Athani this time. Several other defectors have been fielded as candidates at the cost of sitting MLAs.
The BJP is facing growing resentment in the camp over the selection of its candidates.
Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who was missing from the first list, left for Delhi to plead with the leadership. Though reports suggested he might return disappointed, Mr Yediyurappa thought otherwise.
“99% Jagadish Shettar will be given election ticket,” Yediyurappa was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Mr Shettar has threatened to contest either way and has not ruled out the possibility of contesting as an independent.
Even before the list was announced, another senior leader KS Eshwarappa announced his retirement from electoral politics. Sources say that he had received indications that he would be dropped.
The BJP released the first list of 189 candidates for the Karnataka elections last night. Several MLAs have been dropped and Congress defectors have been elected. There are 52 new candidates in the list.
The party held several meetings before the first batch of candidates for the state’s 224 assembly seats came out.
According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasized that the party should shun “tainted, dull and accommodative politics”. He reportedly made it clear that BJP candidates should be “proof of intent” and should not be a repeat of previous lists which could make people question the party’s promises.