Hubballi (Karnataka), Oct 21 (PTI) BJP leader C P Yogeeshwara on Monday resigned as the Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council, to contest the November 13 Assembly by-poll from Channapatna segment.
With the BJP ceding Channapatana seat to alliance partner JD(S), the actor-turned-politician said he plans to contest as an independent, and would take a final call, after consulting his supporters and workers, even as he appealed to coalition leaders to consider giving him a ticket from the saffron party.
Channapatna will go for by-polls along with Sandur and Shiggaon Assembly segments –where BJP has already announced candidates.
Channapatna bypoll is necessitated as the seat fell vacant following the election of its representative — JD(S) state president and now Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy — to Lok Sabha from Mandya parliamentary segment.
“I have voluntarily come here to Hubballi and have handed over my resignation to the Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti, to contest the Assembly bypoll from Channapatna segment…once this resignation is accepted I can go for polls, so I have resigned,” Yogeeshwara said.
Speaking to reporters here, after tendering his resignation, he said he plans to contest as an independent candidate, as he had contested and won in the past, and will take a final call based on what his supporters and workers say.
Noting that he has not resigned from the primary membership of BJP, and still wants to contest as a NDA candidate, he said, “As there is still a chance, I appeal to the BJP leadership to give me an opportunity. People of our taluk will make me victorious in the by-poll hundred per cent. For several years I have been working for the party. I also appeal to Kumaraswamy to give me an opportunity.” The last date for filing nominations for the by-polls is October 25, and the final date for withdrawal of papers is October 30.
The BJP has said that Channapatna candidate would be announced by Kumaraswamy, as the seat was represented by him, which dashed the hopes of Yogeeshwara, who had openly claimed that he will be the alliance candidate.
There were plans to field Yogeeshwara on a JD(S) ticket, but he seems to be not interested in it and wants Kumaraswamy to support him as BJP candidate, party sources said.
Kumaraswamy too who was under pressure from within the JD(S) to field a party worker, is looking for a suitable candidate from inside, and the announcement may be made in a couple of days, sources said.
Asked about speculations that he may join the Congress, Yogeeshwara said, “such speculations are common during by-polls. I have not contacted anyone (from Congress) so far and there is no such intention. But I can’t say what will happen tomorrow.” Stating that most leaders of BJP were in his favour and wanted to give him the ticket, he said, “naturally, as it is a constituency represented by Kumaraswamy, his consent will be required, as he has still not given consent, I will have to take a decision.” To a question whether he was fine with contesting as a JD(S) candidate, Yogeeshwara said he had no problem with it, but it was not acceptable to his supporters and workers, as they had been in loggerheads with JD(S) for nearly twenty five years now.
“Their (JD(S)) workers are also opposed to it….as I have my service and seniority in BJP in the old Mysuru region it will help both me and the party, so I’m asking them to consider,” he said.
Earlier speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Yogeeshwara said, Kumaraswamy wants to field his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Channapatna seat. “I was told by a JD(S) leader this morning that Nikhil Kumaraswamy will contest.” Actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy lost the 2023 Assembly polls from the neighbouring Ramanagara Assembly segment.
Kumaraswamy doesn’t want to cede the Channapatna seat that he had represented and which has become his political turf, to Yogeeshwara or BJP, according to JD(S) sources.
Kumaraswamy won the Channapatna seat in 2018 and 2023. Before that, Yogeeshwara had represented the seat from BJP and Samajwadi Party. He had earlier also represented the seat both as an independent and from the Congress.
Indications are that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s brother D K Suresh, a former Congress MP who lost from Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment in May this year, may be fielded in Channapatna, by the grand old party.
Speculations are also now doing rounds that Yogeeshwara may switch sides to Congress and may be filed as a candidate. However, both sides have denied this so far.
“D K Brothers” –Shivakumar and Suresh — are hoping to regain their lost grounds in the Vokkaliga dominated region, after the Lok Sabha poll debacle in which Suresh lost to BJP-JD(S) joint candidate and Kumaraswamy’s brother-in-law Dr C N Manjunath in Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment, under which the Channapatna Assembly seat comes. PTI KSU KH
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