BENGALURU: Former minister V Somanna, who is eyeing the BJP state president post after the party’s recent Assembly poll debacle, on Sunday said that if he is denied the post, he will decide on his future course of action after holding consultations with his supporters.
“I have been in politics for 40 years and know the ups and downs. If I am made the state BJP chief, I will toil hard day and night and organise the party. Otherwise, I will make an announcement after convening a meeting of my supporters,” he said, clearly sending feelers to the BJP high command.
Incumbent BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s three-year tenure has ended and the party is yet to announce his replacement. Recently, Somanna had expressed his intention to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru South.
He had said that the party had always fielded candidates belonging to one particular community from Bengaluru South for over two decades and hence leaders of other communities should be given a chance. BJP Yuva Morcha national president Tejaswi Surya represents Bengaluru South in the Lok Sabha. Somanna, a 72-year-old Linagayat leader, has been sulking ever since losing the May 10 Assembly elections against Siddaramaiah from Varuna and against former minister C Puttarangashetty from Chamarajanagar.
Somanna blamed his defeat on the lack of unity among the party’s top leaders in the state. Since he had “sacrificed” his Govindarajanagar seat in Bengaluru to contest from Varuna and Chamarajanagar, he wants the party to reward him by appointing him as the party state chief.
Ahead of the Assembly polls, political corridors were abuzz with Somanna planning to join the Congress after he held talks with KPCC president DK Shivakumar. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah intervened and had called Somanna to New Delhi to convince him to stay in the BJP.