Hours after losing the Karnataka elections from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central constituency on a Congress ticket, Jagadish Shettar went on to blame the ‘money power’ and ‘pressure tactics’ of BJP for his unceremonious defeat.
Shettar, who was earlier a Minister in the cabinet of ex-Karnataka CM and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa, reportedly left the saffron party after being denied a ticket in the 2023 Karnataka elections.
“In the last six elections, I have not at all used any money power. I have not distributed any money to the voters. It is the first time that the BJP candidate has distributed ₹ 500-1000 to the voters,” he claimed.
#WATCH | Congress leader and candidate from Hubli-Dharwad-Central, Jagadish Shettar speaks on his defeat in the Karnataka Assembly Elections. Says, "Money power has played a very important role." (13.05) pic.twitter.com/F8bzqyV74m
— ANI (@ANI) May 14, 2023
“Money power and pressure tactics have affected my (candidature)…Money power can change a lot of things…There are a lot of business people and industrialists in the Hubbali constituency,” Jagadish Shettar alleged.
He further claimed that the loss of the BJP in the 2023 Karnataka Vidhan Sabha election is a setback for the Modi-Shah duo in the run-up to the 2024 General Elections.
“All of them targetted Jagdish Shettar, and what did that do? They lost the entire state…What did they achieve? Was defeating Jagdish Shettar the final goal?” the former BJP leader brazened it out.
Interestingly, Shettar’s allegations of the use of ‘money power’ and ‘pressure tactics’ come at a time when his new party aka Congress managed to ace the polls with a large margin.
Jagadish Shettar loses to BJP’s Mahesh Tenginakai
Jagadish Shettar won on a BJP ticket three times from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central seat during the 2008, 2013, and 2018 Vidhan Sabha elections. However, defecting to the Congress proved unfruitful as he lost out to his rival Mahesh Tenginakai by 34289 votes in the 2023 polls.
Shettar had resigned as MLA and from the primary membership of the party in April this year, after he claimed he felt ‘humiliated’ as BJP, sidelined him to give preference to younger candidates in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Reacting to his allegation, Karnataka’s chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, had said that BJP offered Shettar a number of options, including a bigger post inside the organisation, governorship, or party ticket to a relative; however, Shettar rejected each one of them.
