Former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar returned to the BJP after a nine-month stint in the Congress party.
Shettar, who had quit the BJP after being denied a ticket to contest the Assembly polls last May, landed in BJP headquarters in Delhi on Thursday and rejoined the party in the presence of senior leaders including former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa and state BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra.
Shettar stated that he had joined the party in the belief that Narendra Modi would "once again become the Prime Minister".
"Both the party leaders and workers had been urging me to return to the BJP. So I decided to return and it has made me happy. Today morning, I met Union Home minister Amit Shah ji and he welcomed me with great affection," said Shettar.
The Lingayat leader claimed he had resigned from both the Congress party and the Upper House.
"I am currently working as the Congress MLC. So I have sent my resignation letter to the Karnataka Legislative Council chairman Basavaraj Horatti and urged him to accept it. I am giving up the primary membership of the Congress party and have sent my resignation letter to KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on email," said Shettar.
Further, Shettar said he had joined the BJP in the belief that Modi would become the Prime Minister once again.
"Today, the challenge before the country is to keep it united and secure. For the last 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been leading the country towards progress and protecting its interest too. I want to see Modi become the PM for a third term," he added.
The Congress leaders in Karnataka were visibly upset with the development though it was not a surprise as there were murmurs of Shettar meeting the BJP top brass in Delhi.
"We had welcomed him and treated him well, made him the MLC even though he lost the Assembly polls by 35,000 votes. In fact, Shettar had been telling us that the BJP is a bad party and he was giving statements against the BJP on Ram Mandir. The Congress party held him in good faith. But as is evident from his action now, he has breached our trust. My office has informed me that Shettar had called the Council chairman and told him he would send his resignation by fax," said Shivakumar who was upset as he had flown the rebel BJP leader to Bengaluru and inducted him into the party.
Reacting strongly to Shettar's statement on joining the BJP "in the interest of the country", Shivakumar slammed the veteran leader saying he had not felt the same way after he was denied the BJP ticket or when he was given the MLC seat by the Congress.
"I have a conscience, so does Shettar. He knows if he has done the right thing. I have not yet received his resignation," said Shivakumar.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reminded Shettar that he had joined the Congress saying the BJP has "insulted" him by denying him a ticket.
"We gave him the ticket to contest from the Hubballi central seat, but he lost. Despite the defeat, we made him the MLC. He has told us he would never go back to the BJP," said Siddaramaiah.
Shettar, 68, a six-time MLA hailing from a family associated with the RSS and Jan Sangh, had quit the BJP after the party decided to give the ticket to a young face -- state general secretary Mahesh Tenginkayi.
Shettar, who declined all plum posts offered by BJP, said his self respect had been hurt as the veterans were asked to back out from the contest in the "last minute". Shettar who joined the Congress, lost the seat to Tenginkayi. He also held BJP National General Secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh responsible for his "humiliation ".
Yediyurappa who had slammed Shettar over his decision to quit the party is now the man behind his return to the party.
The thawing of relations between Shettar and the BJP started soon after B.Y. Vijayendra, son of former chief minister and Lingayat strongman Yediyurappa, took the reins of the party in Karnataka last November. The move was a clear indication that the party wanted to cut the losses and woo back the Lingayat community back into its fold after its shocking defeat in the May 2023 Assembly polls. Now with Shettar back in the BJP, the Yediyurappa faction (that is constantly in friction with national organisation secretary B.L. Santosh faction) seems to have gained an upper hand in the state.
According to sources, Shettar was perceived to be a threat to Union Minister Prahlad Joshi in the upcoming Parliament elections as Shettar's contest from the Hubballi-Dharwad Dharwad Parliament constituency on a Congress ticket would prove to be a spoiler for the BJP.
Also, the energised Yediyurappa faction is hoping to win back the confidence of the Lingayat community to help the party retain its seats. Shettar is most likely to contest from Belagavi or Haveri in the Lingayat belt.
The Belagavi Parliament seat is currently held by BJP's Mangala Angadi who defeated the Congress candidate Satish Jarkiholi in the April 2021 bypolls necessitated by the demise of her husband and Union Minister Suresh Angadi in September 2020.
In Haveri, Shivakumar Udasi, a three-time MP, has expressed his desire not to contest in the upcoming polls citing "personal reasons" and the saffron party has been toying with the idea of replacing him with another Lingayat candidate. Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar's names are under consideration.