SHIVAMOGGA: After a gap of 12 years, Shivamogga district is again witnessing ‘rebel politics’, with one of its top backward class leaders and former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa contesting as an independent, protesting against the denial of a BJP ticket to his son and claiming that his fight is against family politics.
From the day he announced his decision to contest, Eshwarappa has reiterated several times that he will not withdraw his candidature at any cost. During his campaigning in some places, he said he is contesting as a mark of protest against family politics, where power is concentrated with former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s family. He said that despite the Haveri parliamentary constituency seat being promised to his son KE Kanthesh, it was denied at the last minute.
“How come so much power is concentrated with Yediyurappa’s family? Yediyurappa is a member of the BJP Parliamentary Board Committee, elder son BY Raghavendra is a sitting MP and is again looking at reelection and younger son BY Vijayendra is an MLA and state BJP president. There is a need to clean the state of family politics,” he said.
Senior BJP leader from the district and MLC RK Siddaramanna asked Eshwarappa, “Would you talk about cleansing the state of family politics if your son had got the ticket?”
That million-dollar question is yet to be answered by Eshwarappa.
A similar situation existed during the 2013 Assembly elections, when Yediyurappa floated a new political party, Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), on December 9, 2012, protesting against the party snatching his position. KJP contested from 203 assembly constituencies across the state and won six seats, including Shikaripura. Yediyurappa, however, dissolved KJP on January 9, 2014 before the general elections and merged it with BJP. He went on to become a BJP MP and later chief minister twice in 2018 for a week and from July 26, 2019 to July 28, 2021. He has been staying away from electoral politics since then.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, the party high command asked Eshwarappa not to contest the elections, indicating that it was the end of his electoral politics. He accepted the dictat and was later making efforts to find a political career for Kanthesh.
“On the directions of Yediyurappa, Kanthesh went to Haveri and started working. But he was denied the ticket,” Eshwarappa said.
Shivamogga district, considered a saffron party stronghold, has evolved since 1980 and has witnessed its leaders Yediyurappa become chief minister and Eshwarappa DCM. In fact, both leaders worked together to build the party across the state. They also ensured the BJP came to power for the first time in South India in Karnataka.
Some senior BJP leaders in the district said, “It was Yediyurappa then, and it is Eshwarappa now. But voters are keeping a close watch on the developments in the district.”
