In a major turn of events, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar late Saturday announced his resignation from the Bharatiya Janata Party after he was denied a ticket for the upcoming assembly election on May 10. The 67-year-old politician also said he would put in his papers for the state assembly.
"With a heavy heart I will resign from the party. I am the one who has built and raised this party. They (some party leaders) created a situation for me to resign from the party," Shettar said.
Shettar was the sitting MLA from Hubli-Dharwad Central. The BJP high command had earlier in the week asked him to drop his name for the election and that left the senior leader upset. "I have decided to resign from the legislative assembly," a visibly upset Shettar told reporters, as quoted by PTI, adding he has sought an appointment with Speaker Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri, who is at Sirsi.
However, the Lingayat leader, who was the leader of the opposition when the Congress was in power in the state, said he would contest the poll for sure.
The announcement came after his meeting with Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, and Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan failed.
"They (party leaders) have not understood Jagadish Shettar yet, for the way they humiliated me," Shettar said. "I am upset over the way they ignored me, which made me think I should not sit quiet and I must challenge them. In view of that, I had been saying that I will contest in this election."
This is the second major blow to the BJP. Earlier, former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi resigned from the party and joined the Congress.
The six-time MLA’s quittance from the BJP is a big jolt for the saffron camp that does not want to upset the Lingayat community in Karnataka. The BJP high command was even seen favouring former chief minister and the party`s Central Parliamentary Committee member BS Yediyurappa – who has been snubbed and removed from the CM post earlier – to keep the Lingayat vote bank intact.
Shettar, meanwhile, alleged there was a systematic conspiracy against him and added that he was never an indurate person but the party forced him to become one.
He rebelled against the BJP's decision not fielding him from the Hubli-Dharwad central constituency. According to Shettar, the party's high command had asked him not to contest the assembly election to make way for young people. However, he said he will contest the election come what may.
He said that if he is denied ticket then it will have a bearing on 20 to 25 assembly seats in north Karnataka, apart from the state.
