Lok Sabha election: Senior leader Eshwarappa of the Karnataka BJP will run as an independent from the Shimoga seat, sparking a revolt

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa said on Friday that he will run as an independent from the Shimoga seat. He blamed party veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for his son K E Kantesh’s denial of a ticket for the Haveri constituency.

The Congress has filed former Chief Minister S Bangarappa’s daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar, wife of Kannada cinema actor Shivarajkumar and daughter-in-law of thespian late Dr Rajkumar. Yediyurappa’s son and current MP B Y Raghavendra is the party candidate from Shimoga.

At a conference called by his followers, Eshwarappa said, “I will contest as your independent candidate from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency,” raising his flag of rebellion against the BJP.

Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has been put up by the BJP for the Haveri seat.

The BJP was founded in Karnataka from the ground up, mostly due to Eshwarappa, Yediyurappa, and the late HN Ananth Kumar.

The 75-year-old former Deputy Chief Minister persisted in accusing Yediyurappa, a member of the Central Election Committee and BJP Parliamentary Board, of having “cheated” him by promising to support his son’s election and guaranteeing him a ticket.

Bommai and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje had tickets secured by Yediyurappa, according to Eshwarappa, but “not for his son.”

With one son serving as an MP and the other as an MLA and state president, B Y Vijayendra, he said, was in control of the BJP’s state branch.

Yediyurappa is accused by former state BJP president Eshwarappa of marginalizing those who supported Hindutva, including Pratap Simha, Nalin Kumar Kateel, C T Ravi, and D V Sadananda Gowda. It should be noted that three incumbent MPs, Kateel, Simha, and Gowda, have been refused tickets for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

But Eshwarappa made it clear again and again that he had nothing against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I refuse to oppose Narendra Modi, even if it means my life is at risk. Lord Rama and Modi will be on opposite sides of my heart, if it is opened. Prior to the 2018 Assembly elections, Eshwarappa made the decision to withdraw from the race and asked the party’s central committee to refrain from fielding him in any seat since he intended to leave electoral politics.

Then, as per the party’s directive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Eshwarappa and held a video conversation with him to thank him for his decision to step down from politics.