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NT Correspondent

New Delhi / Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar quit the Congress and his MLC post and re-joined the BJP in New Delhi on Thursday.

Back in April, Shettar, a long-term saffron party leader, had resigned as the Hubballi-Dharwad Central MLA, quit the BJP and joined the Congress upon being denied a ticket.

He had contested on a Congress ticket and lost to his former protégé and BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai by nearly 35,000 votes in May’s Assembly polls.

His personal loss notwithstanding, Shettar’s exit from the BJP had caused bitterness among fellow Banajiga-Lingayats, a section of whom voted for the Congress.

BS Yediyurappa – another Banajiga – being made to quit as the CM back in 2021 had also caused ill feeling.

Something similar had happened with Laxman Savadi, a Ganiga-Lingayat, who had quit the BJP and joined the Congress just before Shettar. Savadi, however, had won from his stronghold Athani, beating BJP’s Mahesh Kumathalli by more than 70,000 votes.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar rushed to meet Savadi on Thursday to ensure that more Lingayats don’t leave the party for their former party.

Reconciling with Banajigas?

The BJP appears to be trying to re-consolidate its Banajiga-Lingayat vote bank ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Shettar joined the party in the presence of Yediyurappa, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Rajeev Chandrasekhar and BJP state president BY Vijayendra.