BENGALURU: Former minister and BJP MLA ST Somashekar on Thursday opposed the saffron party’s tie-up with Janata Dal (Secular) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Yeshwantpur MLA also hinted at quitting the party saying that he will take a call once the alliance was officially declared. “I fought against JDS all through my political career... in six Assembly elections. Many BJP and JDS MLAs are also against the alliance but are not speaking in the open,” he told reporters in Vidhana Soudha.
He claimed that his supporters in the past were harassed by JDS workers and hence it is not possible for them to coordinate in the LS polls. Patil asserted that he would express his opinion even in the BJP meeting. “What happened in 2019 when Congress and JDS forged an alliance? They won only one seat,” he said, predicting that even the JDS-BJP alliance will meet a similar fate.
When asked about his supporters joining the Congress, he said BJP workers in constituencies like Padmanabhanagara represented by former minister R Ashoka, RR Nagar and Dasarahalli, represented by former minister Muniratna and MLA Muniraju, respectively, have also joined the Congress.