Jagadish Shettar blames BL Santhosh for missing BJP ticket

Senior leader Jagadish Shettar, who joined Congress on Monday, has held National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party BL Santhosh responsible for missing ticket to contest in the upcoming election from the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency.

Shettar on Monday had refused to blame BJP's central leadership after the party denied him the ticket but had said that he would speak about the issue at the right time.

"My name was in the list sent by the core committee. I don't know what happened in the Central Election Committee meeting. If they had offered me some other position earlier respectfully, I would have accepted it. BL Santhosh is the main reason for missing the ticket. For some people, the party is not important but individuals are. To disturb one seat, you destroyed the party," News9 quoted Shettar as saying.

The BJP has fielded Mahesh Tenginkai to contest from the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, the seat which Shettar had won six times in a row.

He expressed his unhappiness over the BJP treating him "like a kid." "Dharmendra Pradhan called me and said that I will not get a ticket. He said that he will send a form and asked me to sign it. He treated me like a child. I have won elections six times," the former Chief Minister said.

He also blamed BL Santhosh over BJP's decision to not give a ticket to sitting MLA SA Ramadas from the Krishnaraja seat. "If Ramadas contests, he will win. The Krishanaraja ticket was given to Santhosh's close aide, Srivatsa," Shettar said.

On Monday, Shettar, without naming anyone, accused the Karnataka BJP of being controlled by a few leaders.

"A handful of people are controlling the party and they are hindering the party's growth for their personal growth. I don't want to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, J.P. Naddaji or central leadership as they might not be aware of developments happening here," he said at a press meet at the Congress party office in Bengaluru.

Apart from Jagadish Shettar, the party has also denied tickets to senior leaders like KS Eshwarappa, Laxman Savadi, S Angara, Raghupathi Bhat and a few others.