SIRSI(UTTARA KANNADA): Yellapur BJP MLA Shivaram Hebbar, who is expected to rejoin Congress, has been embarrassed with posters saying, “We don’t need garbage from BJP”, appearing across Sirsi town.
The posters have also come up at the venue of the popular Marikamba fair. The poster shows Hebbar as a corrupt minister in the BJP cabinet. It also has images of the “PayCM” campaign, which Congress took to before the 2023 Assembly elections.
The poster mentions a food kit scam and shows an image of Hebbar along with that of former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The poster mocks Hebbar, saying, “The deal is ours; money is yours”.
Asked about this during his visit to the Marikamba fair venue, a visibly unhappy Hebbar said, “I have not applied for Congress membership. Nobody has taken any party on lease. People who are unhappy with BJP will join Congress. Those unhappy in Congress will join BJP.”
The poster campaign has come at a time when Hebbar is trying to rejoin Congress before the Lok Sabha elections. But there are many in Congress, including district in-charge minister Mankal Vaidya, who want him to join the party. Vaidya said, “He is welcome to the party if he wants to rejoin. He is my friend.”
Hebbar has been stating that he will not remain with BJP as he is not happy in the party.
During the recent Rajya Sabha elections, he abstained himself, helping the Congress candidate win. He told the BJP high command that he had health reasons to stay away from the polls, and continued to remain in BJP, though it had been expected that he would jump ship then. BJP went ahead and issued a show-cause notice to him, but nothing much came out of it.
Hebbar’s efforts reached the peak when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Congress leaders during his visit to Sirsi for Kadambotsava festival on March 6.
Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar too arrived in Sirsi and it was speculated that Hebbar’s induction would be finalised then. But Sirsi MLA Bhimanna Naik and Haliyal MLA RV Deshpande, both from Congress, were said to have opposed the move. And Shivakumar had made a quiet exit.