HUBBALLI: “I had never thought of joining BJP. But inevitable circumstances and the response of my voters ahead of the election forced me to change my mind. I want to make it clear that I am not expecting any long-term political gains by joining BJP,” said Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on the possibility of joining the saffron party and contesting the election to the West Teachers’ constituency of the Legislative Council.
With Horatti meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, all decks are cleared for his joining BJP. However, Horatti did not keep leaders from his party JDS in the dark and wrote a 13-page letter to party supremo HD Deve Gowda. But he did not receive any reply.
He, however, got the nod from senior party leader HD Kumaraswamy, with whom he held a detailed discussion. Except contesting as an independent in his first election in 1980, he was associated with Janata Parivar since 1983 and won the West Teachers’ Constituency a record seven times in a row. His political stature ensured that he did not need any party affiliation to win elections. He has kept in regular touch with his voters (teachers) and fought for their rights. But this time, he looks shaken by the response of his voters, especially the younger ones.
Horatti, considered a principled politician, said a group of state BJP leaders met to persuade him to join BJP assuring him of a “respectable position”. He was told to join in New Delhi, but he requested for a simple event at Hubballi. “It will not be easy for me to adjust to another party because of my openness and principled stand on some issues. But time is the healer,” he said, accepting that the politics of BJP is different from other parties.
Horatti made it clear that his joining BJP is not to ensure a career for his son Vasant, who has kept himself away from politics after his defeat in 2014 in the election to the West Graduates’ constituency.