Ex-MLA Banakar bids adieu to BJP; rude shock for BSY

Shyam Sundar Vattam I NT

Bengaluru: In a blow for the ruling BJP, former MLA of Hirekerur, Ujaneshwar Banakar has resigned from the primary membership of the saffron party. Banakar citied ‘harassment’ by the incumbent MLA and Agriculture Minister B.C.Patil for him bidding good bye to the BJP with which he was associated for more than two decades. He is considered close to former chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa.

Banakar’s father, B.G.Banakar had represented the constituency and had served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Ujaneshwar felt sidelined after Patil joined the BJP in 2019 and became minister in the Yediyurappa and Bommai governments.

Ujaneshwar had lost to Patil in the 2018 Assembly polls. According to party sources, Banakar is likely to join the Congress Party and contest on the party ticket in the 2023 Assembly polls. Congress leaders are looking for a suitable candidate to take on cop turned politician BC Patil in the next assembly election and Banakar’s exit from the BJP has come n handy for them.

A Lingayat/Veerashaiva dominated constituency, Hirekerur had been a strong fortress of the BJP for a long time. Ujaneshwar had resigned as chairmen of the Veerashaiva/Lingayat Development Corporation and also the State Warehousing Corporation, after he came to know that he was not getting his due in the BJP.

There are also apprehensions in the BJP whether BC Patil wil remain in the party. Already, KPCC President D.K.Shivakumar has called upon all those who have quit the party for one reason or the other to return. Meanwhile, Yediyurappa is said to be disappointed with Ujaneshwar’s resignation and is learnt to have asked Bommai to try to retain him.