Hubballi: State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday expressed confidence in finding an amicable settlement to growing dissidence and claims to be sorted out in the next two days.
Meanwhile, former chief minister Jagdish Shetkar held out a threat to quit the party if his candidature is not considered and the party has to bear the brunt in as many as 20-25 assembly constituencies in the next month’s polls. The party high command cannot take Shetkar’s threat lightly as even another former chief minister and party’s mainstay ‘think tank’ Yediyurappa, too echoed the same as if endorsing his party colleague’s disappointment in holding back his name. Meanwhile, the CM responding to BJP MLA Nehru Olekar’s allegations told reporters that the MLA must furnish evidence to the charges. Olekar has been proven guilty in a case.
Confident to get the majority:
Informing that he would be spending the whole day in the constituency, the CM said the election field is ready and the BJP would get an absolute majority. The third list of candidates for the other constituencies would be decided by Central Election Committee within two days. Already, the discussion had been held regarding 12 Assembly constituencies.
Convincing Jagadish Shettar:
Bommai said the efforts are on convincing former CM Jagadish Shettar and this issue had been discussed with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Shettar hails from the family of Jan Sangh and is always loyal to BJP. He is very much necessary in the North Karnataka region. Talks have been held with the BJP National President J.P.Nadda to retain Shettar in the party at any cost. “We are confident to retain the former CM in BJP”.
Rumors: Reacting to the charges that he was responsible for Shettar to miss the ticket, the CM termed it as rumors and said none must say that. Efforts are on to retain Shettar in the party honestly. Hundreds of people say many things but he and Shettar are very close.
It’s a challenge: The CM said the Congress Party did not have the strength to win the election. The election means the challenge. Denying me ticket will have bearing on 20-25 seats: Shettar warns BJP: In a rebellious tone, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who was asked by the BJP high command to drop his candidature for the Assembly election from the Hubli-Dharwad Central segment, has said denying him a ticket will have a bearing on at least 20 to 25 seats in the state.Addressing reporters here, the senior BJP leader said he would wait for the party’s decision on the ticket till Sunday to decide his next course of action. The BJP has not yet released the list of candidates for 12 constituencies, including Hubli-Dharwad Central.”I will wait till tomorrow and then I will decide my next course of action,” Shettar told reporters here. When questioned about the impact on the BJP for treating senior party functionaries in such a manner, he said the ruling dispensation has to think about it.
“The party has to ensure that it should not have any negative impact. Even former CM B S Yediyurappa has said that if Shettar does not get a ticket, then it will have a bearing not in just one place it will have an immediate effect in many constituencies in north Karnataka — at least 20 to 25 constituencies,” Shettar said. “It will indeed have an effect across Karnataka but the immediate impact will be seen in 20 to 25 constituencies,” he added.As some of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation councilors offered to tender their resignation, the senior leader said he was grateful to them for showing their affection towards him. Shettar added that he will take note of the councilors’ opinions and then decide on the next step. To a query that some top BJP functionaries were confident of Shettar getting the ticket, he said he was aware of such statements but he wanted “the result”. Shettar held a press conference on April 11 saying that he received a call from Delhi where a senior party functionary asked him to drop his candidature to make way for young people.
He said this was not acceptable to him and expressed his resolve to contest the election this time come what may. The BJP has so far put out a list of 212 candidates for the Assembly election and has not yet announced the names of the remaining 12 seats. The 224-seat Assembly in Karnataka will go to polls on May 10 and they are scheduled to come out on May 13.
