Some BJP leaders have appealed to the party to field Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Belagavi, instead of the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.
A faction led by the former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi met the BJP high command representatives in Bengaluru and asked them to nominate Mr. Yatnal from Belagavi and not Mr. Shettar.
They argued that Belagavi district has more voters from the Panchamsali Lingayat sub-caste than the Banajiga Lingayat community. This, they reason, is important because the Congress is likely to field Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who has been active in the reservation recategorisation agitation for Panchamsalis, in the constituency.
The second reason is that Mr. Yatnal is known for his hardline Hindutva ideology and provocative speeches. He will easily sway voters in Belagavi constituency that has a sizeable portion of Lingayat and Maratha voters, they say.
“Mr. Yatnal is considered a lone wolf in Karnataka BJP. Through his speeches and mannerism, he has a direct connect with voters. He does not need to rely on local leaders or cadre. But Mr. Shettar is different. He is a leader in the traditional mould who works through his sub-ordinates and village and taluk level leaders. He will face difficulties if the local leaders and workers do not cooperate with him,” said a member of the delegation that met BJP leaders in Bengaluru.
The objections against the candidature of Mr. Shettar are that he is an outsider to the district and that he has defected in the past. Mr. Yatnal is also an outsider and he has also changed parties in the past, but his recent image of a hardline Hindutva crusader overshadows these factors, said a BJP leader.
Vijayapura, Mr. Yatnal’s home constituency, is reserved for Scheduled Castes. Ramesh Jigajinagi, Dalit leader, has represented it since 2009.
Another suggestion was made to field Mr. Shettar from the Haveri- Gadag seat, instead of the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The BJP high command has announced Mr. Bommai as the party candidate after it refused to re-nominate party MP Shivakumar Udasi.
A team led by Iranna Kadadi, Abhay Patil, Mahatesh Kavatagimath and others met some leaders in Bengaluru. Ramesh Jarkiholi and his brother and fellow legislator Balachandra Jarkiholi also met the leaders, separately. They held an interaction with BJP leaders like State party affairs in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra, G. Rajesh, among others.
The Belagavi BJP team is planning to go to New Delhi to make similar demands, said a party leader.
