Upset over his party not announcing his candidature for the Channapatna Assembly bypolls, BJP MLC C.P. Yogeshwar resigned from the Karnataka Legislative Council on Monday.
Yogeshwar, considered a party hopper, had won the Channapatna seat since 1999, as an independent and on different party symbols (SP, Congress and BJP) but was defeated by JDS president and Union minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in the 2018 and 2023 polls.
A nominated member of the Upper House of the Karnataka Legislature, Yogeshwar drove all the way to Hubballi to hand over his resignation letter to the Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti.
Despite several rounds of deliberations, the BJP and its ally JDS are yet to arrive at a consensus candidate for the seat vacated by Kumaraswamy on his election to the Mandya parliament seat.
After the BJP high command made it clear that the choice of the NDA candidate would be made after due consultation with the JDS, Kumaraswamy was hopeful of fielding his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who, previously lost two elections – Mandya parliament elections in 2019 and Ramanagara Assembly polls in 2023, both in the Vokkaliga heartland, the stronghold of the regional party.
With Yogeshwar turning a rebel, Kumaraswamy sent feelers to the disgruntled leader to fight the bypoll on a JDS ticket.
“The BJP had fielded Dr Manjunath, our family member, from Bengaluru rural in the Parliament elections. It should return the favour by allowing us to field the NDA candidate on the JDS ticket now,” said Kumaraswamy, who also claimed that some state BJP leaders (from the Vokkaliga community) were unhappy with the alliance due to fear of losing their importance within their party.
Interestingly, the leader of the opposition R. Ashok, who, along with MLA Dr Ashwath Narayana and MP Basavaraj Bommai, was backing Yogeshwar for the ticket, claimed that there was no tussle between the allies. The NDA candidate will be picked with consensus from the JDS,” said Ashok.
Earlier, BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa reminding his partymen that Channapatna was a “JDS seat” had silenced those backing Yogeshwar.
While the Congress is keeping its cards close to the chest, former MP D.K. Suresh is rumoured to enter the fray in Channapatna.
Yogeshwar stated that he was keen to contest the bypolls and would be filing the nomination as an independent if the BJP does not consider his plea to contest on a BJP ticket.
“I already have a reputation as a party-hopper. So, I would like to contest on a BJP ticket only,” said the former minister, who began his political journey as an independent candidate, winning the Channapatna constituency election in 1999.
He joined the Indian National Congress (INC) and won the 2004 and 2008 Channapatna Assembly polls. In 2011, he switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and won the by-elections. In 2013, he contested and won the seat on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket. However, he came back to the BJP and was defeated in the 2018 and 2023 elections by JDS’s Kumaraswamy.
The rebellion by Yogeshwar might help the Congress party establish its dominance in Channapatna, even as DK Suresh is seeking to bounce back politically after his humiliating defeat in the Parliament elections. More importantly, it has exposed the fault lines within the BJP and the growing resistance to the alliance too.
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