K S Eshwarappa announces he will contest LS polls as an independent

Shivamogga: Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Friday announced that he will contest as an independent candidate from the Shimoga seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, blaming party veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for his son K E Kantesh being denied a ticket for the Haveri constituency.

Yediyurappa’s son and sitting MP B Y Raghavendra is the party candidate from Shimoga, where Congress has fielded former Chief Minister S Bangarappa’s daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar, wife of Kannada film star Shivarajkumar and daughter-in-law of thespian late Dr Rajkumar.

“I will contest as your independent candidate from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency,” Eshwarappa said, announcing his banner of revolt against BJP, at a meeting convened by his supporters.

BJP has fielded former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from the Haveri seat.

Eshwarappa, Yediyurappa and the late HN Ananth Kumar are widely credited for building the BJP in Karnataka from the grassroots.

The 75-year-old former Deputy Chief Minister reiterated his allegation that Yediyurappa, a member of the BJP Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee, had assured a ticket for his son and promised to campaign for his victory, but had now “cheated” him.

Eshwarappa said that Yediyurappa had ensured a ticket for Bommai and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, but “not for his son”.

He alleged that BJP’s state unit is in the clutches of the Yediyurappa family, with one son as MP and the other son B Y Vijayendra as MLA and state president.

Eshwarappa, who is a former state BJP president, also accused Yediyurappa of sidelining those who espoused the cause of Hindutva like Nalin Kumar Kateel, Pratap Simha, C T Ravi and D V Sadananda Gowda. Incidentally, Kateel, Simha and Gowda–all sitting MPs– have been denied tickets for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

However, Eshwarappa repeatedly stressed that he is not opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Even if my life goes, I will not go against Narendra Modi. If my heart is opened there will be Lord Rama on one side, and Modi on the other.” Ahead of the Assembly polls last year, Eshwarappa opted out of the contest and requested the party’s central leadership to not field him from any constituency as he wished to retire from electoral politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had then dialled Eshwarappa and spoken to him over a video call to express appreciation for his move to retire from politics as per the instructions of the party.