Former CM Jagadish Shettar resigns from BJP

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, April 16, 2023: Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is all set to resign from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday, April 16, after talks with the party seniors failed on Saturday. The senior BJP leader had expressed his unhappiness openly after being asked to step down from contesting and make way for other younger leaders. Shettar has represented the Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency for six terms since 1994.

On Saturday, April 15, Shettar met with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan at his residence in Hubballi, but it failed to yield any positive result for Shettar, who had been adamant about contesting. Speaking to reporters later, he said he would be resigning from the primary membership of the party. “I will be handing my resignation to the Assembly Speaker at Sirsi tomorrow. I will definitely contest the elections,” he said.

Shettar claimed there was an attempt within the party to prevent him from getting a ticket and that he would take a call on whether to contest independently or take another decision.

Shetter also said that he had won every election with a margin of 25,000 votes and had expressed his ire at party seniors who had informed him only at the last minute that he was expected to step aside. “The leaders have no decency. They have taken us for granted,” he said. He also accused them of sidelining Lingayat leaders in the party.