Bengaluru, March.21: Amid infighting within Karnataka’s ruling BJP, the saffron party’s MLC from Kalyana Karnataka region, Baburao Chinchansur on Monday tendered his resignation as a Member of the Legislative Council.
It is believed that Chinchansur’s resignation came in the wake of the denial of a ticket to the aspirant leader from the Gurmitkal constituency by the BJP. Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti accepted the resignation.
Chinchansur is a prominent leader of the Koli-Kabbaliga community in the Kalyana Karnataka region. He left Congress and joined the BJP in 2018. His resignation is seen as a setback for the ruling party as he was one of the key leaders who played a leading role in defeating Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
With the Karnataka Assembly elections in sight, BJP is finding infighting to be the major roadblock in its mission to return to power in the state.
On Thursday, March 17, BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa faced a backlash from his own party workers in the Chikkamagaluru district’s Mudigere constituency. The Lingayat leader did not step out of the car and returned, cancelling the pre-election march.
BJP national general secretary CT Ravi on March 14 hit out at Yediyurappa after he announced that his son BY Vijayendra will be contesting from Shikaripur in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. He said that the decisions are not taken in the kitchen and that a ticket cannot be given just because he is Yediyurappa’s son.
A day before this, CT Ravi along with BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel campaigned in various parts of the Vijayapura district. While responding to a question on the ticket of BY Vijayendra, he said that the party parliamentary board will be taking a decision.
The growing rift in the saffron party comes mere days ahead of the Karnataka polls which are slated to take place before May 2023. As a tussle is going on for tickets to the election, the national leadership of BJP is looking ahead to have BS Yediyurappa at the forefront of the poll campaigns.
