'Root Cause Of All This': Jagadish Shettar Says BL Santosh Behind His Exit From BJP

Karnataka Election 2023: Jagdish Shettar said that he was the victim of the game played against him and that the ticket that was announced in his favour was later revoked.

New Delhi: Senior Karnataka politician and former CM Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress on Monday, accused BL Santhosh, the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of denying him a ticket to run for the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency in the upcoming election, reported news agency PTI. Shettar, a six-time MLA, was honored by the Congress by receiving a ticket to run for the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, while the BJP selected Mahesh Tenginkai, the state general secretary (organisation) for the same seat.

"When there was a possibility of winning with maximum votes, the question emerged why the ticket was denied. What I saw was, the person whom people respect and call him Santhosh ji, it's B L Santhosh, who is the root cause of all this," Shettar said in a press conference here.

Shettar, the former Leader of the Opposition, went on to explain that he was the victim of the game played against him and that the ticket that was announced in his favour was later revoked.

Tenginkai, who worked for the party organisation, received a ticket from the BJP. To respect him, it might have made him MLC or given some significant post, Shettar, who was likewise a previous Karnataka Assembly Speaker, said.

He said that Channappa Nimbannanavar was a strong candidate for the Kalghatgi constituency in the Dharwad district in the Assembly election in 2018, but that the local leaders were against him. Nimbannanavar had to be put forward by the party.

The veteran leader asserted that Tenginkai had waged an adversarial "whispering campaign" against him for the previous six to seven months.

Shettar stated that Santhosh has a lot of "Maanas Putras," or people who are treated like sons. For the past six to seven months, this Maanas Putra (Mahesh Tenginkai) has started a whispering campaign against me with his disciples. Shettar, a member of the Jan Sangh and the BJP for a number of decades and a fervent RSS adherent, joined the Congress on Monday after his candidacy for the May 10 election was rejected.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pralhad Joshi tried to stop him from leaving the party several times, but he remained adamant about contesting the polls at any cost.