Former minister and senior BJP leader, K.S.Eshwarappa who has been loyal to the party for so many decades, has made it clear to party leaders, both at the State and national level, that he would be compelled to take a strong step if his son was not given a ticket to contest from the Haveri seat.

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Going a step further, he said there has been pressure from his followers to contest  as an independent candidate, or field his son, Kantesh  from Haveri to teach a lesson to the party leaders.

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Seething with anger, Eshwarappa said there had been calls from seers of the backward classes mutts asking him to contest as independent candidate from Haveri, promising they would back him to the hilt.

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Meanwhile, the die-hard followers of Eshwarappa have convened a meeting on Friday to decide the further course of action which included entering the poll battle as independent candidate.

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There is a strong reason for Eshwarappa, a Kuruba community leader in BJP, to be upset at being sidelined. In the 2023 Assembly polls, both Eshwarappa and his son, Kantesh were denied the ticket to contest from Shivamogga City.

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Eshwarappa was the sitting member, but the BJP fielded Chennabasappa as the party candidate. At that time, Eshwarappa had put a condition that either he or his son must be given the Lok Sabha ticket from Haveri to which the party leaders had reportedly agreed.

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Subsequently, the leaders did not keep the promise made to Eshwarappa and wanted to field former CM Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri despite the latte’s reluctance to move national politics.

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Eshwarappa's question to the high command was simple. He sought to know when B.S.Yediyurappa's two sons have been accommodated, with B.Y. Raghavendra a sitting MP from Shivamogga and B.Y.Vijayendra in the party , why the same yardstick was not applicable to him since he has also served the party for more.than four decades.

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The Friday meeting would be decisive as Eshwarappa was not a person to sit back and allow  his son to be treated in this manner. But will the party leaders step in before the situation goes out of control.

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Meanwhile,  there is more trouble brewing with the supporters of the Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency sitting MP Pratap Simha seems to have decided to wash the dirty linen in public. After attacking the BJP's probable candidate, Yaduveeer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar,  Simha's supporters took out a bike rally and staged protests at several places demanding the high command give a ticket to their leader who had contributed a lot for the development of Mysuru and Mandya.  

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Two former MLAs, S.A.Ramdas and L.Nagendra, with whom Simha has a so far had a good rapport, have tweeted ' party is more important than individual ' indirectly asking him to abide by the party decision.

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Whatever said and done, the BJP seems to be neck-deep in trouble over the ticket distribution and any mess may prove advantageous for the ruling Congress Party.

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