After being expelled from the BJP, rebel leader KS Eshwarappa made the decision to run as a non-party candidate on Monday. He expressed confidence in his victory and stated that he would return to the BJP in the future.
Eshwarappa told the media, ‘I have decided to contest as a non-party candidate. I still have hope. I don’t fear expulsion.’ ‘I will run for office, win, and rejoin the BJP. I competed five times under the lotus symbol,’ he stated.
The party expelled him for six years on Monday for breaking party discipline and competing as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. The former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, who also served as the party’s state unit leader, has entered the race, blaming state BJP president BY Vijayendra and his father, veteran party leader BS Yediyurappa, for denying his son KE Kantesh the ticket to run from Haveri. Basavaraj Bommai, a former Chief Minister, has received the BJP’s Haveri ticket, while Vijayendra’s brother and MP BY Raghavendra is the BJP candidate from Shimoga.
Eshwarappa, 75, stayed firm in his decision to run, rejecting party leaders’ attempts to pacify him. He had even submitted his nomination papers as an independent candidate. On the final day of candidate withdrawals for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on May 7, the party opted to expel the former Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council.
Along with Yediyurappa and the late HN Ananth Kumar, Eshwarappa is widely regarded for establishing the BJP at the grassroots level in Karnataka.
