The BJP cadres will educate former chief minister Jagadish Shettar a “lesson” by guaranteeing his defeat within the Karnataka elections for “betraying” the get together, its senior chief Arun Singh mentioned on Tuesday, rejecting the Congress’ cost that the ruling get together has insulted Lingayats by denying tickets to senior leaders from the group like him. Singh, the BJP common secretary in command of the state, asserted that Hubli-Dharwad Central, the standard seat of Shettar who’s now combating as a Congress candidate, has been a “safe” seat for the ruling get together and can stay so. “Shettar had been winning from the constituency as it was a BJP seat and not because of any mass base which he never had. BJP cadres are upset with his betrayal of the party and will ensure his defeat. He will be taught a lesson,” Singh instructed PTI.
He famous that BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai, a celebration common secretary within the state, who’s contesting towards the six-time MLA can be a Lingayat like Shettar and belongs to the identical subcaste as the previous chief minister. Accusing the BJP of humiliating him by denying him a ballot ticket, Shettar severed his decades-old ties with the get together and joined the Congress which has fielded him from his conventional seat, turning the constituency right into a key battleground of the polls scheduled for May 10. Seizing on his angst and comparable reactions of one other Lingayat chief Laxman Savadi after the denial of a ticket by the BJP, the Congress has accused the ruling get together of insulting the group and fielded each of them as its candidates.
Singh dismissed the Congress’ strategies and asserted that the BJP has the assist of the tallest Lingayat chief in B S Yediyurappa and has many standard leaders from the group like V Somanna and B P Yatnal. He added that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai can be from the state’s largest social group which has lengthy been a bedrock of the BJP’s base. Savadi, he famous, couldn’t win even his personal seat in 2018 however the get together made him an MLC and a deputy chief minister as effectively. The BJP additionally gave all of the due respect to Shettar however he selected to “betray” the get together for his private pursuits, he mentioned. Singh counted social engineering, a reference to the state authorities rejigging quota to placate completely different communities, the plank of growth and the get together’s bid to usher in a brand new management by giving tickets to 72 new candidates as the foremost components favouring it within the polls. The Congress has raised the difficulty of alleged corruption and accused the BJP of “insulting” Lingayats to nook the ruling get together within the run-up to the polls.
Singh expressed confidence that the ruling get together will even make deep inroads within the Old Mysuru area the place the JD(S) and the Congress have historically been predominant rivals. The agrarian group of Vokkaligas is numerically essentially the most highly effective within the area. The presence of Vokkaliga leaders like R Ashoka and C T Ravi will assist the BJP higher its tally within the area, he mentioned. He claimed that the BJP will retain energy in in Karnataka, noting that it has been the main state within the nation on a number of development indices, together with the benefit of doing enterprise, FDI and innovation. “Our target is 150 seats. We will surely achieve it,” the BJP chief mentioned.
