Bengaluru: Candidates of the BJP, who unsuccessfully contested against 17 disqualified legislators of Congress and JD (S) in Assembly elections held in 2018, are likely to make way for these rebels in bypolls after the Supreme Court verdict on petitions filed by them.
A senior BJP leader told Deccan Chronicle that defeated BJP candidates do not have a chance of getting tickets to contest the by-polls since the party had given a commitment to these rebels in Congress and JD (S) that they would be given tickets. He said those 17 MLAs' agreed to quit their membership of the Assembly only after assurances by state and national BJP leaders that they would be accommodated in the cabinet once the apex court announces the verdict. The CM has already promised some posts for defeated BJP candidates in due course of time.
This decision of the party comes at a time when unsuccessful BJP candidates are knocking on the doors of party leaders for tickets to contest forthcoming bypolls. Mr U B Banakar, a BJP candidate in Hirekerur Assembly constituency, who lost to Mr B C Patil of Congress by a slender margin of 555 votes, has sought permission to contest from that constituency. Similarly, Mr Nandeesh Reddy, who lost to Mr Byrathi Basavaraj by over 30,000 votes, has threatened to contest as an independent candidate in case he was denied a ticket for the by-polls. In Hosakote too, Mr Sharath Bache Gowda, son of Chikkaballapur MP B N Bacche Gowda, has also thrown his hat in the ring to contest the by-polls.
This has become a big worry for Mr Yediyurappa as he had to give tickets to those disqualified lawmakers, failing which they could rock the boat any time. Therefore, state leaders are in touch with those defeated candidates with a plea not to press for party tickets as the BJP wrested power with the help of 17 rebel MLAs'. The BJP defeated candidates in 2018 Assembly elections have to make way for the disqualified Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) legislators when they contest in the coming by-elections to the State Assembly.
As many as 17 Congress and the JD(S) lawmakers had resigned to their Assembly membership which resulted in the fall of 14-months coalition government headed by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
Since the by-elections would be held to those seats once the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the writ petition filed by those disqualified MLAs' challenging the orders of the Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly K R Ramesh Kumar who not only disqualified them but also ruled that they cannot contest in the elections till the end of the 15th Assembly tenure.
Those lawmakers had termed the speaker's order as 'unconstitutional' and also 'unilateral' since they had tendered resignation to their membership even before their respective parties could issue them the whip to compulsarily vote for the confidence motion moved by Mr Kumaraswamy. Ultimately, the confidence motion got defeated as all the 17 lawmakers stayed away from the Assembly proceedings.
