The exercise to decide who gets the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket to contest the upcoming R.R. Nagar bypoll appears to has turned into a platform for factionalism and lobbying with the central leadership.
As Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has been strongly favouring giving the ticket to defector Munirathna — who quit the Congress to join the BJP and helped the former in forming the government — those leading the party organisation, reportedly in concurrence with party national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh, have been favouring Tulasi Muniraju Gowda. Mr. Gowda, a local BJP leader, had not only fought against Mr. Munirathna in successive elections but also challenged his 2018 victory on the grounds of election malpractices. The BJP State core committee that met two days ago recommended both the names, putting the ball in the high command’s court.
“Not just the Chief Minister, even the BJP had promised defectors tickets and ministership in the government and neither of them can afford to go back on that promise. The BJP has not let down any defectors across the country,” a strategist close to the Chief Minister argued.
Munirathna’s baggage
However, there has always been resistance within the party to Mr. Munirathna joining them. “Mr. Munirathna, while he was a Congress MLA, had harassed our councillors and faced several corruption cases. The BJP had fought against him bitterly, exposed election malpractices and challenged his election as well. That baggage is still there and many in the party are not happy with his possible candidature,” a senior leader in the organisation said. Many point out that though R. Roshan Baig had also resigned, his entry into the party was blocked over similar concerns and R. Shankar was denied ticket in the bypolls and later made and an MLC.
Given the support for Mr. Gowda by the party organisation, the Chief Minister’s camp is keeping its fingers crossed, sources said. “If Mr. Munirathna is not given ticket, it will be another major embarrassment to the Chief Minister,” a senior leader close to Mr. Yediyurappa said. Recently, the party Central leadership chose dark horses late Ashok Gasti and Eranna Kadadi for Rajya Sabha elections even though the Chief Minister had sent a different set of names.
Meanwhile, three defectors who are now MLCs — A.H. Vishwanath, Mr. Shankar and N. Nagaraju (MTB) — are already putting pressure on the Chief Minister to induct them into the Cabinet. It is uncertain if it will happen soon in the light of the bypolls.
Rajesh Gowda joins BJP
C.M. Rajesh Gowda, a radiologist and son of the former Congress MP C.P. Mudalagiriyappa, joined the BJP on Saturday.
His is one of the three names the State core committee has suggested as candidate for the Sira bypoll. “There seems to be a consensus among the leaders that Dr. Gowda will be the best bet in Sira,” a senior party functionary said.
Dr. Gowda was a business partner of Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah and the firm they were directors in came under attack by the BJP over an alleged land scam in 2016. Dr. Yathindra quit the firm later.