BENGALURU: Union Minister of State for Railways and Jal Shakti V Somanna has hinted at returning to state politics. Somanna, the incumbent MP from Tumakuru, recently said that he will contest the next Lok Sabha elections.
“I contested Lok Sabha polls from Tumakuru at the insistence of the BJP high command. I will complete the projects here, which are sufficient for 50 more years. I will not contest again from Tumakuru and will follow whatever the high command instructs me to do,” Somanna said.
Somanna’s decision has triggered murmurs in political corridors about him leading the BJP state unit in the 2028 Assembly polls. Somanna hails from the prominent Veerashaiva-Lingayat community. After becoming a Union Minister, his influence as a key leader of the community has increased manyfold, said BJP insiders.
“He is even acceptable to many leaders of other communities as well,” an MLA from the SC community told TNSE on condition of anonymity. Like Lingayat strongman BS Yeddiyurappa, Somanna, too, has his own influence on the community’s mutts across Karnataka.
Furthermore, Somanna’s performance as MoS has drawn the attention of the BJP high command after he recently submitted his report card to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the 2023 Assembly polls, Somanna had contested from both the Varuna and Chamarajanagar constituencies following the top brass’ diktat. But he lost both seats, jeopardising his political future.
But Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave Somanna a political rebirth by fielding him as the BJP-JDS alliance candidate from Tumakuru in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which he eventually won. Somanna’s good relationship with the JDS supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda had helped the former. “If incumbent Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra has to be replaced, the top brass would placate the Yediyurappa family by offering his one more son, BY Raghavendra, a place in the Union Cabinet,” opined a political observer. Raghavendra is currently an MP from Shivamogga.