Shettar's return to BJP and Yeddyurappa's tightening grip on party

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BS Yediyurappa has once again shown who the boss is in Karnataka BJP as he played a big role in bringing back senior leader and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar to the party fold from the Congress.

With Shettar’s return to the saffron party, Yediyurappa has also sent a clear message to his intra-party rival, BL Santosh, who is BJP’s national general secretary (Organisation).

Reason for Shettar's return

The key reason that Shettar decided to be back with the BJP is – to become a Rajya Sabha MP and Union Minister after the Lok Sabha polls (if the BJP wins). Shettar had joined the Congress just before the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, saying Santosh was why he quit the party.

It was always a tug-of-war between Yediyurappa and Santhosh after the former had formed the government through his infamous “Operation Lotus” by poaching 17 Congress and JDS MLAs in 2019. But, Yediyurappa was made to resign as the Chief Minister in 2021, and he was unhappy with leaders in New Delhi, and also Santosh. But, Yediyurappa never made his disappointment with Santosh public.

In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls, the BJP denied Shettar a ticket to contest from the Hubli-Dharwad constituency and picked his follower Mahesh Tenginakai, who defeated Shettar, who contested on a Congress ticket.

The BJP lost the Karnataka Assembly elections when Santosh was in charge of political affairs. This made the central leadership think again about bringing back Yediyurappa to ensure that the party wins more MP seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Yediyurappa made his son BY Vijayendra the state unit president and close aide R Ashok as the Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly.

A close confidant of Yediyurappa’s team told The Federal that though Shettar was not close to him, the “problems” created by Santosh and his team have now brought the two former CMs closer.

Yediyurappa's assurances to Shettar

Yediyurappa, staying behind the scenes, is managing the state BJP, and is slowly tightening the grip of the state unit through his son Vijayendra. Recently, he even succeeded in managing a few disgruntled leaders, including V Somanna, V Muniratna, ST Somashekhar, and others, who are trying to join the Congress, and made them stay with the BJP, said a former minister.

With Shettar’s return, Tenginakai, now identified with Santosh’s faction, will not be given importance in the party henceforth, sources said.

A Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office bearer told The Federal that the party was aware of the BJP’s moves about Shettar's ‘ghar wapsi’ but neglected them. Both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar were aware of it, but they did not pay much attention as they were not in a position to give more importance to Shettar. The Congress had made him an MLC and had plans to pit him against sitting BJP MP and Union Minister Prahlad Joshi in the Hubli Lok Sabha constituency.

“The Congress leaders did not take any interest in retaining him in the party, which has made him take a decision,” a Congress minister, who did not want to be named, said.

A source told The Federal that Yediyurappa has assured Shettar Rajya Sabha nomination, besides making him a Union minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet after the 2024 LS polls, if the party wins.

Laxman Savadi is not going back to BJP

Shettar was the “prize catch” of the Congress during the Assembly elections and helped it to win through the Lingayat vote consolidation in North Karnataka region. Now, the BJP wants more MP seats from Karnataka in 2024 and doesn’t want the Lingayat votes to divide and help the Congress. Sources said that with an eye on winning more LS seats in the state, the proposal of Yediyurappa to welcome Shettar back to the party got the approval of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda.

Shettar’s community is a merchant community called Banajigas, a sub-caste of Lingayats. They are spread over around 40 constituencies in the Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions and have been a deciding factor in around 25 Assembly constituencies. The Panchamasali sub-sect is the major stakeholder in the Lingayat community, but the second-largest sub-sect is the Banajiga community, where Shettar is considered their leader in the whole region. This was a worrying factor for the BJP, and it resulted in welcoming Shettar back into the party fold, an office bearer of the state BJP unit told The Federal.

Another leader Laxman Savadi, who too joined the Congress from BJP and became MLA from Athani, has been approached by Yediyurappa’s team. However, he has declined to return to the BJP.