Bengaluru: The recent defection of many Congress leaders to BJP has fuelled discontent within the principal Opposition party with ticket aspirants and loyal workers alike extending a cold welcome to the newcomers.
For instance, the entry of former minister and prominent Bunt leader K. Jayaprakash Hegde has not gone well with other Bunt leaders in BJP, in particular MLA of Kundapura, Haladi Srinivasa Shetty, who recently returned to the party fold after winning as an independent candidate. He had quit the party in a huff when CM Jagadish Shettar did not accommodate him in the cabinet before Assembly elections in 2013. He opposed Mr Hegde's entry and pleaded with both state unit president B S Yeddyurappa and Member of Parliament, Shobha Karandlaje, requesting them not to induct the former MP into the party.
Sources in Udupi district unit of BJP told Deccan Chronicle that Mr. Shetty did not like the idea of another Bunt leader entering the party because of apprehension that Mr. Hegde could contest from Byndoor constituency, adjacent to Kundapura, in 2018 elections. Mr Yeddyurappa, however, yielded to pressure from the district unit and contemplated fielding Mr Hegde from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency.
The entry of former minister Mr Kumar Bangarappa, too, has upset former minister H Halappa and his supporters in Sorab Assembly constituency.
In fact, Mr Halappa has already registered his protest with Mr Yeddyurappa, only to be assured that he would secure the ticket for Sorab Assembly seat.
Mr Halappa even went to the extent of saying that Mr Kumar Bangarappa would be a liability and not an asset to the BJP. Ditto in Bhatkal, where the induction of former Congress MLA, J.D. Nayak, has caused discontent among another former MLA of BJP, Shivananda Nayak, and his supporters.
Though sources in the party said it would be difficult for new comers and their supporters to jell with loyal workers and senior leaders, top leaders of the state unit downplayed the discontent, saying those who joined the party recently are keen to contest Lok Sabha polls in 2019, not next year's Assembly elections.
