Bengaluru: BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa’s son and candidate from Karnataka’s Shimoga, B.Y. Raghavendra, has won by a margin of over 2.43 lakh votes.
According to data from the Election Commission of India (ECI), Raghavendra secured 7,78,721 votes while Geetha Shivarajkumar of the Congress came a distant second with 5,35,006 votes.
Raghavendra’s candidature had ruffled many feathers within the BJP ranks, leading to an outpouring of dissent against Yediyurappa and his control over the state unit.
However, Raghavendra told reporters Tuesday that they overcame many challenges during the campaign, including the spread of misinformation, but the people “blessed the BJP for a fourth time in this constituency”
K.S. Eshwarappa, the former deputy chief minister and BJP leader, had openly criticised Yediyurappa and his family after Raghavendra’s nomination.
Referring to the increasing control of “Appa-Maklu” (father-children) over the state, Eshwarappa decided to contest as a rebel and was expelled from the party.
Eshwarappa was upset that his son K.E. Kantesh was not given the BJP ticket from Haveri-Gadag while Yediyurappa’s son was fielded for a fourth time. The rebel leader managed to secure just 30,050 votes as an independent.
Several senior BJP leaders like D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Basanagouda Patil and others had mirrored the sentiments of Eshwarappa, calling for a “cleansing and purification” of the state unit from the clasp of the Yediyurappa family. B.Y. Vijayendra, the younger son of Yediyurappa, is the Karnataka BJP president.
The charge was that Yediyurappa had secured tickets for his loyalists and ensured that his detractors, especially people considered close to BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh, were denied the opportunity.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, Prathap Simha, C.T. Ravi, Sadananda Gowda and several others were denied tickets, leading to much dissent against Yediyurappa.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)