Accusing the BJP of humiliating him by denying him a poll ticket, Jagdish Shettar severed his decades-old ties with the party and joined the Congress which has fielded him from his traditional seat, turning the constituency into a key battleground of the polls scheduled for May 10.
BJP turncoat Jagdish Shettar, who resigned from the saffron party on Sunday was given a ticket by the Congress to fight the upcoming Karnataka elections from his home constituency Hubbali-Dharwad. Accusing the BJP of humiliating him by denying him a poll ticket, Shettar severed his decades-old ties with the party and joined the Congress which has fielded him from his traditional seat, turning the constituency into a key battleground of the polls scheduled for May 10.
A six-time MLA and the former Karnataka Chief Minister, Shettar was not on the list of 189 candidates that was released by the BJP. Upset, he visited the party's central leaders in Delhi and tried to convince BJP's national president JP Nadda to give him an election ticket to fight from his home constituency. However, Shettar's name was once again kept out of the list when the BJP released its second list of 23 candidates. Instead, in its third list, the BJP fielded the party's general secretary Mahesh Tenginakai from Shettar's home constituency.
Eventually, Shettar resigned from the party after feeling "humiliated" and joined the Congress at the party's Bengaluru office in presence of national president Mallikarjun Kharge, state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, veteran leader Siddaramaiah, among others.
The exit of Shettar from the North Karnataka region has triggered a political row with Congress accusing the BJP of being an 'anti-Lingyat' party.
The BJP cadres will teach former chief minister Jagadish Shettar a "lesson" by ensuring his defeat in the Karnataka elections for "betraying" the party, its senior leader Arun Singh said on Tuesday, rejecting the Congress' charge that the ruling party has insulted Lingayats by denying tickets to senior leaders from the community like him.
Singh, the BJP general secretary in charge of the state, asserted that Hubli-Dharwad Central, the traditional seat of Shettar who is now fighting as a Congress candidate, has been a "safe" seat for the ruling party and will remain so.
"Shettar had been winning from the constituency as it was a BJP seat and not because of any mass base which he never had. BJP cadres are upset with his betrayal of the party and will ensure his defeat. He will be taught a lesson," Singh told PTI.
He noted that BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai, who is contesting against the six-time MLA is also a Lingayat like Shettar and belongs to the same subcaste as the former chief minister.