Following the decision of two of Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) influential Lingayat leaders from Kittur Karnataka to quit the party, former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who is a Lingayat leader himself, came out strongly condemning their decisions. Senior politicians Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi had quit the BJP over the high command’s decision to not give them tickets in the upcoming Assembly elections.
After Jagadish Shettar, former chief minister and six-time MLA, announced his decision to resign as MLA and quit the BJP on Sunday, April 16, he came under harsh criticism from Yediyurappa, who said that Shettar had been treated very well by the party and afforded every position possible. Even now, Shettar had been offered the choice of a ticket for anyone in his family, and a move to Delhi with a Rajya Sabha seat and a Union cabinet post. Despite willingness to accommodate him, he had spurned his party and was joining the Congress, Yediyurappa added.
The BJP has been facing severe rebellion in several districts from disappointed aspirants. Several leaders, irked by the denial of a ticket or being told to step aside to make way for younger leaders, have resigned and some have joined other parties. The exit of the two Lingayat leaders has caused great embarrassment to the party. Both crucial Lingayat leaders, their defection could mean an electoral setback for the BJP.
The party was quick to go into damage control mode after Shettar’s announcement. It was with the aim of quelling the tide of questions about the BJP trying to decrease the influence of Lingayats in the party, that Yediyurappa, considered the tallest Lingayat leader in the party, addressed the media to criticise Shettar and Savadi. His coming forward to address the public is also seen as a move to appease the Lingayat community, which had already been disappointed by Yediyurappa being replaced as chief minister.
Yediyurappa said, “The party has done everything for Shettar and Savadi. Shettar left the party and the ideology he has followed for decades, despite being assured a ministerial position in the Union government. He is all set to join the Congress now. His actions are unpardonable.” To the media’s questions regarding Yediyurappa’s 2013 decision to quit the BJP and form the Karnataka Janata Party, he answered by calling it also an “unpardonable mistake” he had made.
Shettar is asking if @BSYBJP had not rebelled? BSY left BJP to start his own party. He is a mass leader. A tiger. He came back as soon as Modi became PM candidate. Shettar is leaving to join the party of his son’s father-in-law. To run a family business. That is the difference.
— Lahar Singh Siroya (@LaharSingh_MP) April 16, 2023
“I want to ask Jagadish Shettar why he is joining Congress? If he regrets his actions and comes back to the BJP, we will welcome him,” the senior leader said. According to Yediyurappa, Shettar had been promised a Rajya Sabha seat and told that he would be made a Union minister. He called the defectors’ actions a “betrayal” of the people who had accepted them because they were part of the BJP.
“Shettar’s family has been associated with the Sangh Parivar from the time of the Jan Sangh. We made him (Jagadish Shettar) the chief minister of Karnataka, and we made him the state BJP president. The statements given by him have made us unhappy,” Yediyurappa said.
Announcing that he will tour Karnataka, including the constituencies of Shettar and Savadi, Yediyurappa said that the BJP had merely asked Shettar to make way for young leaders, in the same way that he himself had stepped aside. “I will expose them and tell people the truth,” the senior leader declared. “I am touring the state and working for the party, even at 80 years of age. When a leader like Narendra Modi leads the country, we too should work for it, no matter whether we are given any position or not,” he said. He stated that leaders like KS Eshwarappa, S Angara, and Raghupati Bhat, who too have been denied tickets in the 2023 elections, had set an example for BJP workers.
Yediyurappa went on to claim, “The Congress is spreading the false narrative that Veerashaiva Lingayats are sidelined in the BJP,” adding that the party has always stood by the community and will continue to do so.
Former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi resigned from his position as MLC and gave up primary membership of the party on Thursday. The next day, he announced his decision to join the Congress. Yediyurappa railed against Savadi saying that he had been given senior positions, including that of deputy chief minister, despite him losing the elections and had also been made an MLC. “He has more than five years of his term as MLC remaining. He has occupied senior positions in the party as well as in the government. Where have we treated him unfairly?” Yediyurappa asked.
Reacting to the news of Shettar quitting the BJP, Congress state president DK Shivakumar said, “[Shettar] hasn’t told me he is joining the Congress. It is the media that told me that he will resign from the BJP. Let’s see.”
When asked whether the Congress would give Shettar a ticket in the upcoming election, Shivakumar said, “Let him resign and become a free man. We’ll talk about it later.” He added, “He is a senior political leader. He built the party, he was the Opposition party leader. I don’t want to mislead anyone using his name. Let him say what he wants to do.”