Karnataka Elections 2023: Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar Joins Congress

BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar joined the Congress on Monday.

This comes a day after he quit the BJP after being denied a ticket from his constituency, Hubbali-Dharwad Central. The Lingayat leader accused the party of harbouring forces that "worked against the interests of committed workers like him".

Shettar is the second Lingayat leader the Congress has managed to rope in after the BJP's list of candidates was announced. Earlier on Friday, former deputy CM Laxman Savadi also joined the party, upset over not being fielded.

BJP leaders, however, dismissed Shettar's accusations, saying the party had tried to offer him various other responsibilities and the reason behind asking him not to contest was the party leadership's insistence on bringing in "fresh faces in politics and reducing the monopoly of the same families on certain seats".

Shettar joined the Congress at the party office in Bengaluru in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC campaign committee chairman M.B. Patil, and the party's general secretary K.C. Venugopal.

Shivakumar gave Shettar the ‘B’ form to contest elections from the Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency. The BJP has not declared its candidate for the seat yet.

Shettar said he had worked very hard to build the BJP but could not let his self-respect be taken for granted. "I was contacted by Congress leaders. When they invited me, I came without any second thought. I will win Hubbali-Dharwad for the seventh time. I have always won with a record margin for the BJP," he said.

Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan had tried to talk to Shettar. According to people familiar with the matter, the party had offered him a larger role at the centre and a ticket to any other family member, but he did not budge from his original request of being fielded from his constituency again.

Former CM BS Yediyurappa called it an "unforgivable crime." "Jagadish Shettar has been a long-time party member and has enjoyed several posts. He was a minister, chief minister, and leader of the opposition. The party has given him everything. In fact, the late Ananth Kumar (a former BJP minister) and I protected him and helped him rise as a leader," he said.

The Lingayat leader had served as the speaker of the assembly in 2008, BJP minister from 2009 to 2012, chief minister from 2012 to 2013, and then the leader of the opposition from 2014 to 2018, besides being a six-term MLA.

He said "forces within the party" have worked against him and conspired to end his political career. He said his leaving the party will harm the BJP in at least 20 to 25 constituencies, as there is "growing anger" among his followers in the Lingayat community.

Part of Mumbai-Karnataka, the Hubbli region has a dominant Lingayat population and has been dominated by Shettar's family for decades. His father, SS Shettar, was the Jan Sangh's first mayor from Hubbli city in south India, while his uncle, Sadashiva Shettar, was the first Jan Sangh leader in south India to get elected to the state assembly.

While central minister Prahalad Joshi is an MP from the same region, it also used to have the influence of Basavaraj Bommai's father, SR Bommai, many years ago, with even the CM having fought and lost here, against Shettar.

The Lingayats, now a core vote bank of the BJP, had turned away from the Congress after community leader Veerendra Patil was removed as chief minister in 1990 by the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi "by an unceremonious call from the airport" after he became unwell. It then took Yediyurappa to build a solid base among the community for the BJP.

BJP sources, however, said the tallest leader of the Lingayat community was Yediyurappa, who was "working day in and day out to ensure the party wins."

"Even now, 63 tickets have been given to Lingayats, much higher than the Congress. Shettar is not a mass leader, and while he has supporters, the seat is also where the party is strong. This time the party has taken the strong principle of doing a clean-up and presenting younger faces who can take the party forward. Shettar's brother is already an MLC," a party functionary said on the condition of anonymity.

The BJP's lists of candidates have caused much disappointment among some candidates who failed to make it. Haveri MLA Neharu Olekar, who was recently sentenced to two years in prison for diverting government funds to his family members, and three-time Mudigere MLA MP Kumaraswamy, who also did not get a ticket, have said they will resign from the party soon. In Udupi, three-time MLA Raghupathi Bhat, who lost out on a ticket to Yashpal Suvarna (one of the most vocal voices against the hijab), has also said he was "hurt by the way the party has treated him."

However, CM Basavaraj Bommai said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to bring about changes in politics. "Our national president and the Union Home Minister had promised Shettar a big post in Delhi... On Saturday, we informed him that the ticket will be given to anybody he suggests, but he did not agree."

He said that the resignation from the party will impact the BJP, but "damage control exercises will be conducted to minimise the impact."