Will contest Assembly polls if party wants: Eshwarappa
SHIVAMOGGA: Senior BJP leader and former minister KS Eshwarappa said that he will contest the upcoming Assembly election, only if the party gives him a ticket. He, however, added that he will not seek any ministerial berth, but would be willing to accept one if it is offered to him.
Addressing reporters on Sunday, Eshwarappa stated that his stand from the very beginning has been to abide by the party’s decisions. “During my first election as MLA, the party gave me a ticket and later I became MLA. Then, I became the party’s Yuva Morcha state president. In later years, I became a minister many times. It was the party which decided that I should assume such positions. This time too if the party wants me to contest the polls, I will do so or else I will not,” he said.
Eshwarappa said he does not know if he would become a minister again. “If the CM had said that I would be given a ministerial berth again, you should ask him. I am an honest worker of the BJP. There was an allegation against me, but now I am proven innocent, and am happy about it. I have become a minister several times. This time also I may or may not become a minister. I will, meanwhile, strengthen the party,” he said.
Claiming that Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D K Shivakumar embraced each other at the former’s 75th birthday bash in Davanagere, on senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s insistence, Eshwarappa mentioned that not all was right between the two Congress leaders.