Sadananda Gowda had been upset after the high command named Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje as candidate for the seat he represents, Bengaluru North, lashing out over the manner in which he had been sidelined by the party bosses. Some of his followers reportedly advised him to join the Congress party as it was scrambling to find candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in some constituencies.

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The former CM was scheduled to address a news conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, deeply hurt over the manner in which  former CM B.S.Yediyurappa aranged a ticket for Shobha Karandlaje for Bengaluru North without even discussing it with him.  Upset over this, the former union railway minister spoke out over quitting BJP and taking up the offer of a Congress ticket for a seat in Bengaluru.

BJP leaders on Tuesday however reached out to him, and convinced him not to jump ship or go public with his grievance against Yediyurappa whom he accuses of destroying the party by building a coterie and getting tickets for his favorites. Gowda was saying much the same thing as former minister K.S.Eshwarappa, who slammed  Yediyurappa in public and detailed how he too had been cheated by his friend from Shikaripur.

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The media, waiting for Gowda to address a news conference to announce his future course of action, were given the slip as Gowda, apparently mollified with the offer of the Chikkaballapur seat by the BJP, which went into damage control, slipped away to Sullia in Dakshina Kannada. Chikkballapur was set to be offered to former BJP minister, Dr K.Sudhakar, who had jumped ship from the Congress to the BJP.