Basavaraj Bommai’s remarks came after two prominent Lingayat leaders quit the party.
Bengaluru:
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday denied taking any decision by the party on the Lingayat chief minister and said the meeting called by senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa was to take stock of the political situation in the state.
He said that after the completion of the nomination process, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would go to Karnataka for campaigning in the state assembly elections.
Addressing the media, CM Bommai said that no decision has been taken regarding the Lingayat Chief Minister as the meeting of Lingayat leaders held under the leadership of former CM BS Yediyurappa to take stock of the current political situation in the state.
“The leaders gave suggestions to counter the propaganda by Congress leaders and also on the Lingayat chief minister issue,” he said.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was also present in the meeting, said that he would convey the sentiments of the Karnataka leader to the leaders of Delhi.
“No decision has been taken regarding the announcement of a Lingayat CM,” he added.
Mr Bommai’s remarks came after the party lost two prominent Lingayat leaders in Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi over denial of tickets for the assembly polls. Later both of them joined Congress.
Reacting to Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar’s statement that Minister R Ashok was invited to an army hotel in Kanakapura, the Chief Minister said the BJP’s campaign would start from there.
The local people would have been present there but Shivakumar would not have met them.
He further said, “The Congress party tried to divide the Lingayat religion. People will not forgive that party just for vote bank politics.”
BJP has given maximum number of tickets to the leaders of Lingayat community. The party has been holding a series of meetings, under which a meeting was held in Bengaluru under the leadership of Yediyurappa.
Today is the last date for filing nominations and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is April 24.
Karnataka assembly elections will be held on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)