Jagadish Shettar, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka and six-time MLA, resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday. He questioned the party’s hypocrisy in giving younger people a chance in electoral politics while at the same time giving tickets to other senior leaders who are over 70 years old.
Shettar, a senior leader of the Lingayat community, resigned from the party today after being denied a ticket from the Hubli-Dharwad Central segment. The party leaders had made attempts to address his grievances, as a part of which Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pralhad Joshi, along with Chief Minister Bommai, held a meeting with him on Saturday evening. However, the discussions did not pay off, and he announced his resignation from the party late Saturday evening. Speaking to the media about his resignation, Shettar said, “Why was a ticket given to people over 70 years of age? Tripa Reddy is 76, Dipesh Swami is 76, and Karjor and so many others are 72. However, I am 67 years old.Why was I replaced and not them?”
“I only wanted an MLA ticket under the leadership of Yediyurappa and Anant Kumar,” he added.
Shettar’s statement comes after Bommai said that tickets are being denied to some candidates as opportunities are being given to the younger generation.
When asked about his next course of action, Shettar said that he would discuss with his supporters and then take a call.
