Can Shettar achieve what other bigwig rebels could not in the past?

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has filed his nominations from his traditional constituency of Hubli-Dharwad-Central for the forthcoming Assembly elections. This is the seventh time that he is contesting from this seat, but the only difference this time is he is in the race as a Congress candidate, not from BJP.

As BJP denied him ticket, Shettar rebelled against the party and joined Congress, the party which he had been criticising all his life this far. He will now be taking on the BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai.

Tales of rebel CMs of Karnataka

Karnataka has a long history of political heavyweights quitting their original party and joining the rival parties or floating their own. Starting with Veerendra Patil, one of the tallest Lingayat leaders in the State, he began his career with Congress, became the Chief Minister (1968-71), but he later joined Janata Party and took on Indira Gandhi in the historic Chikkamagaluru by-poll, only to lose by 70,000 votes.

However, he returned to Congress and became the Union Labour and Petroleum Minister after winning the Bagalkot parliamentary seat. In 1989, the party made him the CM again after Congress registered landslide victory under his leadership.

He was, however, sacked by Rajiv Gandhi unceremoniously after communcal riots rocked Karnataka. Thereafter, he never recovered politically due to crippling health issues. Political analysts say that this alienated the Lingayat community from the Congress.

Urs, the longest serving CM

In case of Devaraj Urs, he was made Chief Minister twice by Congress but he quit the party following differences with Indira Gandhi and joined a breakaway group Congress (S). He continued to be the CM as he could muster a majority in the House with many from the Opposition joining him and became the longest serving CM of Karnataka.

However, his party Congress (S) lost in 1980 elections and many prominent leaders deserted him. He, however, made up with Indira Gandhi and joined her Congress (I). He died a few years later.

Bangarappa's roller-coaster ride

Sarekoppa Bangarappa, who replaced Veerendra Patil after Rajiv Gandhi sacked him, started his career as a socialist, joined Congess and became a minister in the Urs government. After serving in different ministries, he quit the party and floated his own Karnataka Kranti Ranga (KKR).

KKR was an ally of Janata Party in 1983 and he was hot favourite to become the CM after the State witnessed a non-Congress government for the first time. However, the post went to Ramakrishna Hegde. Gradually, Bangarappa shifted his loyalty back to Congress and he finally merged KKR with the grand old party. He was made the Leader of the Opposition in 1985.

After Veerendra Patil government came back to power, he was made Agriculture Minister and Bangarappa replaced Veerendra Patil in 1990. However, he was removed from his post in 1992 following the Cauvery riots.

Later, he floated the Karnataka Congress Party, which cut into Congress votes across the State in the 1994 elections and bagged 10 seats. He then switched to parties such as Samajwadi Party, BJP and JDS as his popularity declined. He even returned to Congress for a brief period.

Last but not the least, B.S. Yediyurappa ended his decades-old alliance with the BJP in 2012 and floated Karnataka Janata Paksha. His party won six seats in its maiden Assembly election. Although it did not win much seats, his party secured about 10 per cent vote share and brought down BJP's count to only 40 seats. In a matter of two years, however, he merged the party with BJP.

Breaking ranks doesn't work

It is interesting to note that out of the five names, three belong to Lingayat community. These political stalwarts' careers indicate that floating a new party in Karnataka and coming to power is not a cakewalk. Their strength increases manifold when they are with their own parties.

Unlike Devaraj Urs or Veerendra Patil, Jagadish Shettar does not have pan-Karnataka influence and his popularity is more or less restricted to in and around his region, say political pundits. With BSY still with the BJP, the saffron party continues to have the backing of Lingayats. So, it has to be seen whether Shettar will be able to achieve what the other bigwig rebels could not in the past in Karnataka.