Karnataka: Denied ticket, Jagdish Shettar quits BJP; may contest independently
Former Karnataka CM Jagadish Shettar has announced his resignation from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MLA's position after being denied a ticket. He took the decision as CM Basavaraj Bommai and the party high command's emissaries and Union ministers, Dharmendra Pradhan and Pralhad Joshi, failed to pacify him. Shettar may contest independently, as he hinted a few days ago.
Why does this story matter?
On Tuesday, the BJP announced its first list of 189 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly elections. The party included 52 fresh faces in its list but dropped several MLAs for the upcoming polls. Shettar's name was missing from the list, which came as a shocker. Following this, he reportedly headed to New Delhi to raise the issue with the leadership but without any headway.
'Upset with the way I was humiliated': Shettar
While recalling his contribution to the BJP, 67-year-old Shettar has said, "I am upset with the way I was humiliated...I thought I must challenge them. Hence, I have decided to fight the election." "I will go to Sirsi and tender my resignation from the Assembly (to the speaker). Eventually, I will resign from the party which I had built in the state," he added.
BJP high command's emissaries failed to convince Shettar
The BJP's Karnataka election in-charge Pradhan, CM Bommai, and Joshi also failed to convince Shettar. "All those who came to pacify me had no answers for my question on the denial of the ticket," Shettar said, adding that he was "deeply pained" to know that the party wanted him to opt out even after serving it for decades.
Crisis in Karnataka BJP as 16 councilors, 49 office-bearers resigned
Shettar, a Lingayat leader, had already postponed his decision to resign twice as the BJP high command headquarters dispatched envoys to persuade him. Notably, the party is facing a crisis in the state as 16 councilors of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) and 49 state-level and local BJP office-bearers from Hubballi recently resigned in support of Shettar.
Back-to-back setbacks for BJP in Karnataka
Shettar's resignation is the second major setback for BJP in Karnataka. Previously, former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi left the party, too, and joined the Congress. Savadi was furious that the BJP fielded Mahesh Kumathahalli, a former Congress member who defected along with 17 others to the BJP in 2019 to bring down the HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government, from the constituency.
