- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Political drama intensified in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the southern state of Karnataka which is due to go to elections on May 10 as Jagadish Shettar, one of its former chief ministers, decided to join the Indian National Congress on Monday (17) after getting no ticket for the elections.
Shettar, who served as the last of the three chief ministers in the BJP’s first-ever government in Karnataka (2008-13) which was also its first in south India, resigned as a state lawmaker and quit the saffron party on Sunday (16). The 67-year-old leader of the state’s prominent Lingayat community, met senior leaders of the Congress on Sunday night after flying to state capitak Bengaluru from Hubballi in northern Karnataka.
Shettar was a representative in the Karnataka assembly from Hibli-Dharwad Central constituency where he has been winning since 2008.
Top Congress leaders, including general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and the party’s Karnataka chief DK Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah were also present in the meeting.
Expressing his disappointment with the BJP’s decision to not give an electoral ticket, Shettar said he was shocked to learn about it and said nobody from the party either talked or tried to convince him.
He alleged that his previous party treated him badly and said that he joined the Congress by accepting its ideology and principles.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who also hails from Karnataka, called Shettar a “non-controversial” person and said that his induction will boost the grand-old party’s enthusiasm.
Siddaramaiah said Shettar is a “decent and secular” politician who always stood with the BJP.
Siddaramaiah succeeded Shettar as the chief minister in 2013 after the Congress won power in the state. Shettar was the leader of the opposition in the state assembly when Siddaramaih was the chief minister between 2013 and 2018.
Last week, Shettar said in a press conference that he received a call from Delhi where a senior party official asked him to drop his candidature for the May 10 elections to make way for the youth but he said it was not acceptable to him.
He said while he is a not an adamant and stubborn person, he was being stubborn this time alleging his party humiliated him.
