Give Yogeshwar ticket, says BJP as HDK tours Channapatna

NT Correspondent Ramanagar: The internal friction within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to the fore on Thursday. District leaders of BJP held a press conference in Ramanagar city demanding that party MLC CP Yogeshwar – a five-time Channapatna MLA – be given a chance to contest from the seat once again in the lead up to the by-elections to the Assembly constituency, the dates for which hasn’t been announced yet. On the other hand, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy continued reaching out to JD(S) workers in Channapatna taluk of Ramanagar district. Yogeshwar had represented Channapatna since 1999, except for a period of two years between 2009 and 2011. He was finally displaced from his stronghold long-term by HD Kumaraswamy in 2018.

The JD(S) bigwig defeated Yogeshwar a second time in 2023. However, Kumaraswamy – on the BJP high command’s insistence – contested from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat and won earlier this year. However, as a consequence, he had to vacate Channapatna. He also went on to land a berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, being rewarded with the Heavy Industries, Steel and Public Enterprises portfolio. Yogeshwar has since been angling for the Channapatna ticket. However, JD(S) is of the opinion that they should contest on behalf of the NDA since they won Channapatna twice in a row, a view the saffron party central leadership is sympathetic to. Responding to the press conference by the BJP and Yogeshwar’s desire to contest, Kumaraswamy advised them to discuss candidacy and other matters behind closed doors. “Meet our workers and take them into confidence. Don’t discuss this matter outside since it is still in the initial stages. The discussion on candidacy is still happening in our party as well,” he said.

“I’ve told them if you insist on contesting, take us into confidence but I don’t quite understand the way in which they’re approaching this,” he added. Nikhil to contest? Kumaraswamy also refused to rule out or confirm that JD(S) state youth wing president Nikhil would contest from Channapatna. “To this day, I haven’t taken a decision that Nikhil should contest. My desire is that an NDA candidate should win. We should witness an NDA victory here. We will decide on a suitable candidate only after consulting BJP and JD(S) leaders and workers,” he said.

Suggested CPY’s name for LS seat: Kumaraswamy

The JD(S) bigwig also claimed that he had suggested Yogeshwar’s name for the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha ticket from the NDA. Kumaraswamy’s brother-in-law Dr CN Manjunath eventually contested the seat on a BJP ticket and won. “I told Yogeshwar in the beginning that if the BJP and JD(S) allied and contested together from Bangalore Rural, we would win without difficulty. I said regardless of who contests, we will win. I told him (Yogeshwar) why lose out on this opportunity and why not contest? I suggested this,” he said.