Senior Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar, who rebelled against the BJP and switched sides with the Congress, lost yesterday from the Hubbali-Dharwad constituency by a margin of nearly 32,000 votes. He claimed that "money power" contributed to his defeat.
"In the last six elections, I have not at all used money power, never distributed money to voters. (This is the) First time that the BJP candidate has distributed ₹ 500-1000 to voters," Shettar said, allegedly accusing his rival of distributing money. He lost the seat to BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai.
He further said that the BJP is "neglecting" the Lingayat community.
In a major turn of events, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar had announced his resignation from the BJP after he was denied a ticket. The 67-year-old was the sitting MLA from Hubli-Dharwad Central. The BJP high command had earlier asked him to drop his name for the election and that left the senior leader upset.
He contested from the same constituency on the Congress ticket for the first time. The exit of Shettar from the North Karnataka region had triggered a political row with Congress accusing the BJP of being an 'anti-Lingyat' party.
