Belagavi: Despite being at loggerheads with former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on various political issues, senior BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa asserted that Yeddyurappa was the BJP's CM candidate for the 2018 Assembly polls and not Union Minister and Uttara Kannada MP Ananth Kumar Hegde as was being intensely speculated in social media.
Already, BJP President Amit Shah had repeatedly stated that Yeddyurappa was the CM candidate, he said adding that Hegde, who incidentally had sparked a controversy by refusing to attend Tipu Jayanti programmes organised by the state government, was not the candidate for the top post.
Speaking to mediapersons in Vijayapura, Mr Eshwarappa rubbished media reports and rumours that Hegde would be the BJP's CM candidate and asserted that these reports were false.
Reacting to CM Siddaramaiah’s decision not to participate in programmes attended by PM Modi in the state as unfair in a democratic set-up, he said the CM should refrain from doing this and should instead bring the state's problems to the PM's notice. People were closely watching the developments and would teach the Congress a befitting lesson in the coming elections, he said. Mr Eshwarappa also objected to the formation of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) by the Congress government and said it was not meant to fight corruption but was intended to target leaders of Opposition parties.
