YELLAPUR(UTTARA KANNADA): Rebel MLAs who left the Congress to join the BJP, seem to be in the mood to return. Yellapur MLA Arabail Shivaram Hebbar, who began the migration trend in 2018, is set to rejoin his mother party.
Hebbar’s close aides said he has almost completed the groundwork to rejoin the Congress and has even consulted his followers about his move. Having met KPCC President and DyCM DK Shivakumar, he is now waiting for the right time to move back.
Hebbar, who joined the BJP in 2019 along with Congress leaders Ramesh Jarkiholi, ST Somashekar, Muniratna, Byrathi Basavaraj, BC Patil, H Vishwanath, K Sudhakar, MTB Nagaraj and others, made it to the cabinet. As the only minister from Uttara Kannada, he became district in-charge minister during B S Yediyurappa’s regime and was made Haveri in-charge minister when Basavaraj Bommai was chief minister.
Local BJP cadre had alleged that he was not taking them into confidence, and this was evident during Kadambotsava 2023, where he didn’t receive any support from the BJP cadre, while Congress workers went aggressively against him. They posted his pictures in Banavasi on the lines of the ‘PayCM’ campaign. According to sources in Congress, he tried hard to join the party before the elections, but it was put on hold. “Recently, he met DK Shivakumar and is set to join,” said a Congress leader.
A video is also doing the rounds of Hebbar meeting his followers in Mundgod. Though his supporters reportedly urged him to rejoin the Congress, he was also told to tread cautiously. Meanwhile, the BJP is not unaware of his actions. Hebbar’s recent allegation that BJP leaders tried to defeat him in the assembly elections has widened the rift between him and the saffron party.
Hebbar is reportedly under observation, and the party is already contemplating fielding an unexpected candidate against him. The name of former Speaker Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri, who lost in Sirsi, is doing the rounds. Hebbar refused to comment.