Senior BJP leaders held two emergency meetings in Belagavi on Friday, following reports that the high command may replace MP Mangala Angadi with Jagadish Shettar, former CM.
A meeting was held in a private office while the second was held at the residence of Prabhakar Kore, former Rajya Sabha member.
Iranna Kadadi, Rajya Sabha member, Abhay Patil, MLA, former MLAs Anil Benake and Vishwanath Patil, M.B. Zirli, and some district unit office-bearers like Virupaksha Mamani, were present. Members of the Jarkiholi family and Angadi family did not attend.
Though the participants denied that there was any opposition to the idea, it is believed that they strongly opposed the idea of fielding outsiders.
There are strong rumours that the party will field Mr. Shettar from Belagavi. One MP seat was promised to him when he returned from the Congress. He was insisting on Dharwad, but party leaders told him that the constituency would be decided later.
The names of Ramesh Katti, former MP from Chikkodi, and former Minister Murugesh Nirani are also afloat. Ramesh Katti was keen on Chikkodi. But the party decided to continue the candidature of MP Anna Saheb Jolle.
Another reason for the meeting, sources say, is a call by a Central observer to a Member of Parliament asking them to prepare to accept Mr. Shettar’s candidature.
Mr. Kore, however, said that Mr. Shettar had spoken to him to seek his opinion on nomination from Belagavi. “He did not say his ticket is finalised. He was only asking how I and other leaders would feel about it,’‘ he said. He added that he considered that the ticket was not considered finalised till the party announced it formally. We are only discussing various issues. The LS ticket is only one of them,” he said.
Mr. Kadadi, an aspirant for the Lok Sabha ticket, said that the fact was that there were several local leaders aspiring for the ticket. “There are some things that can only be communicated to the party high command and not in public,” he said. He denied allegations that the apparent rifts among party leaders had led the high command to impose an outsider on them. “We are all members of a disciplined party. The final decision lies with the high command and we will abide by it,” he said.
Party sources say that Mr. Kadadi had been empowered to speak to the Delhi leaders while former MLA Anil Benake had been asked to speak to the State-level party leaders.
In the morning, Mangala Angadi said that party leaders had told her that Mr Shettar would get the ticket. Her did not appear in the first or the second list of candidates. She had rushed to Delhi on Thursday, to seek a clarification. But she returned to Belagavi after the party told her of Mr Shettar’s candidature. ``We were disappointed at first. But now, we will campaign for him, if he is fielded,’‘ she said.
On Thursday, Mr. Shettar told reporters in Hubballi that he had asked his party high command to speak to local party leaders in Belagavi before asking him to enter the fray.
Meanwhile, Ramesh Jarkiholi, told reporters in Bengaluru that he had requested the party to field a local leader. “We have several aspirants like Sanjay Patil and M.B. Zirli, apart from Ms Angadi. However, it is for the high command to take the decision,” he said.
