Bengaluru: A day after the stunning withdrawal of Ramanagara BJP candidate L. Chandrasekhar from the fray, sources in the saffron party have revealed that senior leaders were given hints about the ‘conspiracy’ behind the eagerness shown by Mr Chandrashekhar, son of Congress MLC C.M. Lingappa, to contest the polls.
The sources said party MLC, Tejaswini Gowda had cautioned leaders about Mr Chandrashekhar’s real motive behind joining the BJP. Twenty four hours before filing nominations, Mr Chandrashekhar had joined the BJP when none other than party president, B.S. Yeddyurappa welcomed him and handed over the party flag.
On the same evening, when party leaders held a meeting, Mrs Gowda reportedly pointed out that she fould Mr Chandrashekhar’s move suspicious and told the leaders that the party should not fall into the trap. However, Mr Yeddyurappa seems to have ignored her warning and gone by the advice of two Vokkaliga leaders, R. Ashok and C.P. Yogeshwar to give the ticket to Mr Chandrashekhar which proved embarrassing to the party in the final run.Mr Ashok’s attitude during the poll campaign in Ramanagara also has raised eyebrows. While dividing campaign duties, the party allotted Ramanagara to Union minister, D.V. Sadananda Gowda while Mr Ashok was given the responsibility of the Mandya LS bypoll campaign.
However, party insiders said that Mr Ashok did not turn up in Ramanagara even once even though he passed through Ramanagara to reach Mandya to campaign for party candidate Dr Siddaramaiah. Sources said they found it strange that Mr Ashok, did not campaign against a member of the Deve Gowda family, Anitha Kumaraswamy.
Many other party leaders like Ashwath Narayana who were also in Mandya to campaign for party candidate Dr Siddaramaiah in the LS by-poll, came down to Ramanagara to address press conferences and campaign for the party candidate. This has raised serious questions over Mr Ashok’s loyalty towards the party and his ‘proximity’ to the Gowda family, sources said.
