Bengaluru: Disqualified MLA, M.T.B. Nagaraj, met Chief minister, B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday and appealed to him stop Mr Sharat Bachhe Gowda, son of BJP MP, B.N. Bachhe Gowda, from campaigning in Hosapete, where the former is reportedly planning to contest against him in the coming by-election.
Mr Sharat Bachhe Gowda, who is believed to have decided to contest as an independent should the Congress or JD(S) not field him in the bypoll, began campaigning the day Mr Nagaraj resigned as Hospete MLA along with the 16 other legislators, who quit to bring down the last coalition government.
Although the junior Bachhe Gowda was offered the post of chairman of the Karnataka Housing Board by the government, he refused to change his mind, possibly because he had lost to Mr Nagaraj in Hospete in the 2018 assembly elections as a BJP candidate.
An upset Mr Nagaraj interrupted his Diwali celebrations to meet Mr Yediyurappa on Monday and remind him that he had resigned in the belief that the BJP would reciprocate by clearing all hurdles in the way of his re-election, according to sources. The Chief Minister reportedly promised to take his complaint seriously.
With Mr Sharat Bachhe Gowda being a Vokkaliga, Mr Nagaraj, who is a Kuruba, is said to be worried about the division of the Vokkaliga votes.
Emerging from the meeting, the former MLA refused to say what he had discussed with Mr Yediyurappa and instead referring to former Congress minister, D K Shivakumar, who has returned to the city on bail in a money laundering case, said, “When I resigned, Shivakumar said we would meet me in the elections. I am ready. Let him come and campaign (in Hospete).”
