The Karnataka assembly polls are scheduled to take place on 10 May. But the ruling BJP’s confusion in the state continues after the announcement of the party’s first list of candidates.
Several BJP leaders are not happy after failing to get tickets for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. Among them is the veteran leader Laxman Savadi, who quit the party after his name was dropped as a candidate.
“I’ve made up my mind.” I don’t walk around with a begging bowl. I am a respectable politician. I don’t believe anyone is influencing me,” the upset leader said.
According to sources, he is in discussions with Congress and could change his mind soon and join the grand old party.
However, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar informed reporters that “he is neither in touch with me nor has he spoken with me.”
Laxman Savadi is close to former CM BS Yediyurappa, and besides this, he is one of the most influential Lingayat leaders in the state, known for his organisational skills.
He lost to the Congress candidate, Mahesh Kumathahalli, in the previous 2018 assembly elections.
Laxman Savadi played a key role in the mass defections from the Congress-Janata Dal Secular government, which helped the saffron party to form the government in Karnataka. He is not free from controversy after being caught watching pornography in the assembly in 2012.