Bengaluru: A little over nine months after he joined the Congress, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fold Thursday with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Shettar joined the Congress in May last year, ahead of the Karnataka assembly polls, alleging that he was ‘humiliated’ by the BJP at the behest of the party’s national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh.
The six-time MLA unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls on a Congress ticket from his home constituency of Hubli-Dharwad Central.
“I am rejoining the Bharatiya Janata Party. And BJP earlier has given me a lot of responsibilities. And because of some other issues, I went to the Congress. And another thing, after that event (joining the Congress), last 8-9 months a lot of discussion in BJP asking me to return. Even Karnataka BJP leaders and workers at the ground level, everybody on so many occasions when they were meeting me in Karnataka they were asking me to come back to BJP,” he told reporters in Delhi Thursday.
Shettar added that he decided to rejoin the party to “strengthen the BJP” in Karnataka and that it was imperative in the national interest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi return to power for a third term.
He also thanked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM and state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar for “treating him with love and respect”.
On Thursday, Jagadish Shettar met BJP national president JP Nadda before announcing his return to the party. During the induction ceremony, he was accompanied by former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Yediyurappa’s son and state BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra and Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Shettar’s exit from the BJP last year was painted as an extension of the purported ‘humiliation’ meted out to the dominant Lingayat community by Yediyurappa’s removal as chief minister and the denial of a ticket to former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi.
Owing to speculation about a turbulent relationship between Santosh and Yediyurappa, denial of tickets to the latter’s supporters was seen as another move to sideline the four-time chief minister.
In the assembly elections last year, the Congress party stormed to power with 135 of 224 seats — a win many thought would give it a new lease of life ahead of the general election.
A significant chunk of Lingayats had backed the Congress at the time, indicating a revival of support for the party among members of the community who had abandoned it in 1990 following the unceremonious removal of the then chief minister Veerendra Patil.
According to sources within the BJP, the party was keen to get Shettar back into the fold owing to his stature as a prominent Lingayat leader. “Talks were on for quite some time and with the party eyeing a 10 percent increase in its vote share it became important to concentrate on southern states including Karnataka where the party had performed quite well (in 2019),” said a senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
Though there had been speculation about Shettar’s imminent exit, the Congress denied the likelihood of the same as recently as Wednesday.
Shivakumar said Congress gave Jagadish Shettar all the respect, love and responsibility he deserved and that he was made a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and was in the running to become Leader of the Congress party in the Upper House of the state legislature.
“He had said that BJP is not good, he made several statements against the BJP….Congress trusted the senior leader, but now you (media) are showing that the trust is being broken,” Shivakumar said, adding that he was unaware if Shettar rejoined the BJP due to some kind of pressure.
On Thursday, Shivakumar met Savadi in what is being seen as a bid to quell speculation that the former deputy chief minister would follow Shettar’s cue and return to the BJP.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, said he was unaware of the developments but maintained that the Congress had treated Shettar with the utmost respect.
“He said that they (BJP) humiliated me by denying me a ticket and joined the Congress. We gave him a ticket and he lost in his constituency. Then we made him MLC. So in the Congress party, there was no injustice or insult meted to him. We treated him with respect,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in Kodagu district Thursday.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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