In the election to Hubballi-Dharwad Central Assembly constituency, a contest referred to as a fight between the ‘Lingayat hurt sentiment’ card of former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and the ‘betrayal card’ of the BJP, Mr. Shettar has been handed out a shocking and humiliating defeat.
Mr. Shettar polled 60,775 votes against the 95,0064 polled by the BJP’s State general secretary Mahesh Tenginakai, thus losing by 34,289 votes.
Mr. Shettar’s rebellion had drawn the attention of the nation as the former Chief Minister, former Speaker and former Opposition leader had dared to disobey the saffron party’s diktat of retiring from active politics. He resigned as MLA, quit the BJP, and joined the Congress to contest as its official candidate from Hubballi-Dharwad Central.
Mr. Shettar’s rebellion had also led to a narrative being built on the alleged ‘ill-treatment of Lingayat leaders’ in the BJP. He had openly charged the party’s national organising secretary B.L. Santosh with controlling the party affairs in Karnataka, keeping the party high command in the dark. Just a couple of days earlier, former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi had quit the BJP, making similar allegations.
The Congress had tried to build the narrative in the run-up to the elections and seems to have benefitted in the North Karnataka districts from it. In Hubballi, however, the BJP had countered it playing the ‘betrayal card’ accusing Mr. Shettar of betraying the party, in spite of having enjoyed various positions.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had come to Hubballi to direct the party workers to ensure Mr. Shettar’s defeat.
Mr. Shettar contested his first election in 1994 from the constituency, then known as Hubballi Rural, in the aftermath of the Idgah Maidan row in Hubballi. A common party office-bearer then, Mr. Shettar had defeated Basavaraj Bommai, son of former Chief Minister S.R. Bommai.
In the 2023 elections, Mr. Shettar, himself a former Chief Minister, was pitted against a party State general secretary, Mr. Tenginakai, a follower of Mr. Shettar once.
Responding to the debacle, Mr. Shettar told presspersons in Hubballi that while he would accept the people’s verdict, the people who wanted to defeat him had, in their bid to defeat him, had defeated the BJP in the whole State.
The ill-treatment of Lingayats in the BJP had led to the party’s defeat in many of the constituencies of Kittur and Kalyana Karnataka region, he said adding that he would be in active politics working for the Congress for another 10 years.
