The BJP-ruling Karnataka is four months away from the assembly election and ahead of the polls, the party and the state have been witnessing a political infight between the ruling leaders that has been in a fashion of escalating further with several BJP leaders are perplexed on whether or not they will get a party ticket to contest in the polls. 

While the sitting ministers are eyeing to evade the BJP policy of dropping the incumbents, that was evident in Gujarat, by strengthening their fortresses ahead of the election, there is one MLA who is running hard with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with his demand of inducting him to the state cabinet. The recent developments in the political infight have sparked tensions in the party amid earning a closely-watching audience across the country. 

BJP MLA from Shivamogga, KS Eshwarappa has been demanding the Chief Minister to induct him back to the cabinet after the charges against him in a death case were ruled out. 74-year-old Eshwarappa was the former deputy Chief Minister. He was serving as the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister in Basavaraj Bommai cabinet and he resigned his ministerial post in April this year. 

An FIR that was filed against Eshwarappa had pushed him to step down from the cabinet. A case was booked against him over the death of Belagavi-based civil contractor 40-year-old Santhosh Patil, who accused Eshwarappa of demanding more commission. Patil was found dead in his hotel room in Udupi and since Eshwarappa was connected in the case, he had resigned his post and was under invesitgation. 

However, after probing the case, the Udupi police gave a clean shit to Eshwarappa in July. When he hoped that he would be inducted back into the cabinet, there was no positive signal from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai about reinstating him as a minister. Eshwarappa took efforts through his political connection to enter the cabinet, but the doors remained closed for him after which he decided to protest against the party. 

To attract more attention to his demand, Eshwarappa recently announced that he will not attend the Assembly session till he was made a minister. His protest against the Chief Minister stirred shockwaves across the party and at the central leadership. Earlier on Monday, Eshwarappa said that he would go to Belagavi which is hosting the Assembly's winter session and he will not attend it. "The purpose of going to Belagavi is to submit a letter to Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri seeking his permission to not attend the entire session", he added.  

By citing that the people shouldn't be punished after getting a clean chit from the crime they are accused of, Eshwarappa said, "But, in my case, the verdict has come and clean chit has been given, but Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai regarding giving me a ministerial berth has been informing I will be made minister either today or tomorrow. The Chief Minister says he will make me a minister and insists that people like me should be in the cabinet but I don't know why he is not including me in the cabinet." 

He further said, "People, workers, and pontiffs of various ashrams from across the state have been asking me why I have not been made a minister yet. Even I feel hurt and humiliated when they sympathetically enquire with me. I have started this humble protest of not attending the Assembly session with the sole objective of making them (BJP leadership) understand." His Assembly boycott continues and on Tuesday, Eshwarappa claimed that the party leadership and Basavaraj Bommai had positively responded to his demand. 

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Eshwarappa said, "It has been four months since I got a clean shit in the case and I have been in talks with the Chief Minister regarding my re-induction into the cabinet. Following my protest, the Central leaders have spoken to the Chief Minister and asked him to induct me and Ramesh Jarkiholi (who stepped down due to sex scandal) into the cabinet. In fact, the leaders said that it was my right to protest as the demand was a fair one." 

The veteran legislator has claimed that he had come up voluntarily to step down as a minister after an FIR was filed against him. He further said, "When I was the leader of opposition, I had demanded the resignation of KJ George, who was the home minister in the Siddharamaiah cabinet, and told him he could be back as the minister when he gets a clean shit. So, I told my central leadership that I would resign and could be re-inducted after getting a clean shit. But I have not spoken to the leadership after getting a clean chit as I was in talks only with the Chief Minister." 

What's the response from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai?

Along with Eshwarappa, Ramesh Jarkiholi had also boycotted the assembly session and responding about the political infight, Chief Minister Bommai said on Tuesday that he has been in touch with both the BJP leaders and will fix the issue. Addressing the reporters in Belagavi, Bommai said, "They are right in their thinking that they must return to the council of ministers once they were cleared off all charges."  He asserted that their demand and protest were discussed in Dellhi during his recent visit. 

"The central leadership has also expressed a positive outlook in this matter. Everything cannot be shared in a public forum", Bommai added. According to our sources, most of the ministers and senior leaders in BJP are aiming to win a second term in the upcoming assembly polls despite being elected several times from the same constituencies.

As BJP is chalking out a plan to build a second-line leadership in the state, it has worried senior leaders a lot and as Eshwarappa and Jarkiholi are out of the bag to protest against their own party to induct them into the cabinet, it is expected that a slew of senior leaders would follow the trend, which would overtly display the growing divide in the BJP ahead of the polls. Currently, Karnataka has 28 ministers against its 34 sanctioned ministerial berths.