BSY faces family feud after grand-nephew denied ticket

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The release of BJP’s second list with 23 candidates on Wednesday night intensified rebellion in the party with the name of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s grandnephew NR Santosh who was said to be fielded from Arsikere in Hassan district missing from it.

According to media reports, this has led to Yediyurappa’s sister BS Prema making a public statement that she might cut off ties with her brother. She claimed that the BJP had “betrayed” her grandson Santosh and disregarded her hard work for the party. The saffron party is fielding GV Basavaraju from the Arsikere Assembly constituency instead.

Santosh had been a political secretary to Yediyurappa when he was the chief minister and had been active in the Arsikere segment for the past three years. He is also said to be one of the key figures who executed Operation Kamala in July 2019, poaching MLAs from JD(S) and Congress to topple the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition and bring the BJP to power.

Santosh supporters gathered in front of his house and demanded that he contest from JD(S) or some other party. He was reportedly reduced to tears and asked his workers to give him some more time to arrive at a decision. Former chief minister's sister Prema reportedly said that she hadn’t spoken to Yediyurappa since the two lists came out and that she was so “hurt” that she didn’t want any relationship with her brother.

She even acknowledged that her grandson had helped transport former Excise Minister MTB Nagaraj to the airport during Operation Kamala, which led to him joining BJP. Prema alleged that Santosh could have been killed in the process. JD(S) MLA from Arsikere Shivalinge Gowda recently tendered his resignation to the Speaker and officially joined Congress, leaving the Kumaraswamy-led party looking for a fresh candidate from the segment.

Hassan district is considered JD(S)’ Vokkaliga stronghold and the party has won six of the seven constituencies in the district. Recently, they also lost Arkalgud MLA AT Ramaswamy to BJP and decided to field A Manju from the seat.