(Our Special Correspondent)
Bengaluru: The biggest surprise of election-time party-hopping in Karnataka has been the move by Jagadish Shettar, a former chief minister, to quit the BJP and join the Congress. Even the BJP didn’t expect him to, although it had anticipated some inevitable backlash when it overlooked several seniors for the May 10 elections. So far, the BJP has dropped 20 sitting MLAs and nominated new faces as candidates in their places. Of these, three quit the party—while Shettar and Laxman Savadi, a former deputy CM, went to the Congress, M.P. Kumaraswamy crossed over to the Janata Dal (Secular).
But Shettar’s shift to the Congress on April 17, two days after Savadi’s, puts the ruling party in a spot. Both are senior Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders and the BJP cannot afford to antagonize the community as their support has been crucial to its rise to power in Karnataka.
Back in 2021, when B.S. Yediyurappa stepped down as CM, the party had been careful in choosing Basavaraj Bommai, a fellow Lingayat, as his successor. But Yediyurappa, whose influence came from his stature as a mass leader, was more a regional satrap. Under Bommai, however, the state was seen to be under the control of the BJP central leadership. Hence, last year, wary of the notion that Yediyurappa, the tallest leader of his community, was being sidelined, the party brought the veteran back into the political forefront by nominating him to the BJP’s central parliamentary board. Since the election campaign began, the BJP has increasingly relied on Yediyurappa’s clout, though the former CM had announced he won’t be contesting elections anymore. In this election, Yediyurappa’s younger son, B.Y. Vijayendra is the BJP’s candidate from the family’s pocket borough of Shikaripura.
However, with Yediyurappa out of the race, and sensing the community’s concerns over the question of leadership, the Congress sees an opportunity to win back some of the Lingayat support that has eluded it in previous elections. It points to the circumstances in which Yediyurappa stepped down as CM in July 2021—he had broken down while announcing his resignation—as proof that the BJP had humiliated the leader. Now, with Shettar and Savadi, both Lingayat leaders, accusing the BJP of ‘ill-treating’ them, the BJP is worried about public perception. Shettar, 67, hails from Hubballi and was chief minister in a BJP government from 2012-2013. In a press conference on April 17, Shettar said he was humiliated by the way the BJP had abruptly informed him of its decision not to give him a ticket, instead of allowing him an honorable exit. Emphasizing that he was the seniormost Lingayat leader in the BJP after Yediyurappa, Shettar blamed a few people who were trying to control the state unit.
“Possibly, this has not come to the notice of the national leadership,” he said. A day later, Shettar said BJP national general secretary (organization) B.L. Santhosh was responsible for denying him an assembly ticket.
“The Karnataka BJP does not have the knack of handling senior leaders. This is the problem now,” says a senior party leader.
Shettar, a soft-spoken politician, hails from a family associated with Jan Sangh for two generations. His uncle Sadashiv Shettar was Jan Sangh’s first MLA in the South. Besides, the Shettar family is also connected to influential Lingayat leaders such as the Congress’s Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose granddaughter is married to Shettar’s son.
Ahead of Shettar’s induction into the Congress, Yediyurappa held a press conference in which he accused the former of betraying the party. “I have been CM four times. My decision to resign as CM was my own…for the future of the party. Making way for the next generation is inevitable,” he said. The party, he said, had given Shettar top posts, including that of state president and CM. “What injustice have you suffered? Why are you going to Congress?” he asked.
The BJP also sought to counter Shettar’s outbursts against it. “What is your position in Congress? Are you a CM candidate?” asked senior BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje, pointing out that there were several chief ministerial candidates in the Congress.
