Echos of discontent in Karnataka BJP unit over ticket allotment to the 17 disqualified MLAs who belonged to Congress-JDS.
BJP is facing opposition from party members who claim to be from the party from the beginning and warned of serious consequences if the disqualified MLAs are given preference over the original BJP leaders in ticket allotment for the by-elections.
The party leadership is in turmoil, and are conducting many meetings in a day to resolve this issue. By-election will be held in 15 Assembly Constituencies, out of which, 8 Constituencies from South Karnataka, to choose a suitable candidate in each, is in question.
Chief -Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and the party President Nalinkumar Kateel are also at odds, making it harder to crack this problem.
Yesterday, most of the Party members opposed the decision of honoring disqualified MLAs by allocating seats, Many of them suggested , if they win, it will be affecting in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s election, (BBMP) as they will support their (Congress-JDS) workers, not the workers of BJP. In other words, BJP will lose its control over BBMP and City as well.
BJP workers from Yeshwanthpur Constituency also brought to the attention the disqualified MLA S.T.Somashekhara case, who has filed 13 cases against BJP workers. What would be the fate of BJP workers in the particular constituency? Meeting faced many such questions.
MLAs N.L. Narendrababu, S. Harish and M. Nagaraj were opposed to ex congress Gopalaiah who is also a disqualified member. Chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa tried to control the situation by saying that all members should follow party orders and the case of disqualified MPs is still pending with Supreme Court.
BJP workers also brought to attention case of another prominent BJP leader Sharath Bachegowda who is not given a ticket from Hoskote this time. There are chances that he may rebel and run for election on an independent ticket.
The workers and leaders are saying different things. This kind of atmosphere is making the leadership nervous.
Interestingly, no objections came from K.R.Pura, Hunasuru and Shivajinagar constituencies regarding allotment of seats for disqualified MLAs.
Soon after the meeting, CM. B.S. Yediyurappa addressed the press and said- “The meeting went without any objections. We took the decision unanimously to fight by-elections”.
On October 26, another meeting will be held in Hubball, pertaining to seat allotment in North-Karnataka region, he said.
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