Jagadish Shettar to meet Nadda over party ticket for Karnataka polls

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who did not get a ticket from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming assembly polls, on Wednesday said that he will go to Delhi and meet party chief JP Nadda.

According to reports, Shettar was invited by the BJP high command after he threatened to contest as an independent candidate.

''I expect positive things will happen. In the coming days, the party high command and state leaders will specify everything,'' news agency ANI quoted Shettar as saying.

On Tuesday, Shettar, a sitting MLA from Hubli-Dharwad Central, said that he has told the leadership that he would contest the election again, and requested them to give him an opportunity. He told them that their decision was not acceptable to him and urged the party top brass for its reconsideration.

Shettar, a former BJP state unit president and assembly speaker, said he has worked hard for 30 years to build the party in the north Karnataka region.

The former CM noted that he got elected to the assembly six times and every time had won the seat with a margin of 25,000 votes or more. "I questioned them why I should not contest the election. What are my minus points? In the survey, which they have done in all the constituencies, according to the information I got, a positive response has come -- almost 70 per cent positive response and public opinion is there (in my favour)," said Shettar on Tuesday evening after the BJP high command asked him not to contest.

Stating that he had been loyal to the party and worked with dedication, he wondered whether loyalty itself was a minus point for him and there was no respect for it.

The BJP announced its first list of 189 candidates and 52 of them are contesting the polls for the first time.

Voting for the 224-member Karnataka Assembly will take place on May 10, and results will be declared on May 13.