HUBBALLI: It is beginning to appear that the political future of former CM Jagadish Shettar is almost sealed, at least in Karnataka, with the elevation of Basavaraj Bommai to the top post. The BJP central leadership has placed its bet on a leader from the Lingayat community, but one belonging to a minor sect.
Becoming MLA at the age of 39, Shettar enjoyed every position in the party as well as government in his nearly three-decade political career. He became Leader of Opposition in the Assembly during his second term in 1999, and party president in 2005. When the BJP and JDS formed a government in 2006, he was a minister.
When the BJP came to power in 2008, he was made Speaker. Later, he became minister and continued as minister in Sadananda Gowda’s cabinet too. Finally, in 2012, Shettar became CM. As he had occupied all these positions, it was anybody’s guess that Shettar may not be part of Yediyurappa’s cabinet in 2019. But, he accepted a cabinet post, saying he had no hesitancy working under Yediyurappa, who was his senior. But now, Bommai, his junior, has been elevated as CM.
Shettar and Bommai contested their first election against each other in 1994, for the erstwhile Hubballi Rural assembly segment. Though it used to be Bommai Sr’s bastion, Shettar won as he was one of the BJP leaders spearheading the Idgah Maidan agitation. Political analysts say with equations changing completely, Shettar has declined to join the cabinet. There is also talk that the party could appoint him in a gubernatorial post, or he could explore national politics.