Karnataka assembly elections 2023: BS Yediyurappa takes U-turn on his statement regarding sitting MLAs losing tickets

BELAGAVI: Former chief minister and BJP parliamentary board member BS Yediyurappa took U-turn from his statement that four-six sitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs would lose the party tickets in the coming assembly elections in the state.
Addressing the Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Kalaburagi on Tuesday, Yediyurappa stated barring four-six, most of the BJP sitting MLAs would get tickets. His statement had caused a lot of speculation in the BJP, as there was no clarity which legislators were going to lose their tickets. He was speaking to the media persons at the side-lines of Vijay Sankalp Yatra.

Clarifying his statement at Manjari village of Chikodi taluk on Wednesday, Yediyurappa said, “I had just expressed my presumption based on the situation and my words are not final. High command will conduct surveys and tickets would be finalized to the candidates based on the survey reports. There is no surprise if all sitting MLAs get tickets,” he said.

Responding to the internal crises among BJP leaders in many assembly constituencies of Belagavi district, the former CM said such differences of opinions are common in the winning party. The party leadership would finalize the tickets after conducting a survey and all leaders would work for the candidate once the ticket was announced.
Further he said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hasn’t that calibre to compare with the prime minister Narendra Modi. “Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Siddaramaiah have been scared of losing elections, due to repeated visits of PM Modi and union home minister Amit Shah to the state. As both leaders give more prominence to Karnataka, people are being gathered beyond their expectation to the Vijay Sankalp Yatra”, Yadiyurappa said.
Yediyurappa conducted road shows at Manjari and Nipani towns and addressed the gathering at Raibag town.
He was accompanied by ministers Govind Karjol and Shashikala Jolle, former deputy CM Laxman Savadi, party’s national general secretary CT Ravi, MP Annasaheb Jolle, former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, former Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore were present.