BJP expels rebel Karnataka leader Eshwarappa for six years

The BJP on Monday expelled rebel leader K S Eshwarappa for six years for violating party discipline and contesting Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidateThe former deputy chief minister who had also served as the partys state unit president has entered the poll fray blaming state BJP president B Y Vijayendra and his father and veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa for his son K E Kantesh being denied the ticket to contest from HaveriFormer Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has got BJPs Haveri ticket while Vijayendras brother and MP B Y Raghavendra is the BJP candidate from ShimogaIgnoring the partys directions you are contesting as a rebel candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency causing embarrassment to the party This is violation of party discipline state disciplinary committee president Lingaraj Patil said in the expulsion orderIt said so you have been relieved from all the responsibilities and have been expelled from the party for six years with immediate effectThe 75yearold Eshwarappa had remained steadfast in his decision to contest spurning efforts by party leaders to pacify him He had even filed his nomination as an independent candidateThe partys decision to expel the former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council came on the last day for withdrawal of candidature for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on May 7Eshwarappa along with Yediyurappa and the late H N Ananth Kumar is widely credited for building the BJP from the grassroots in KarnatakaClaiming that the party in the state is in the clutches of its Parliamentary board member Yediyurappa and his family with his one son as MP and other son Vijayendra as MLA and the state BJP president Eshwarappa has repeatedly accused Yediyurappa of sidelining those who espoused the cause of Hindutva like Nalin Kumar Kateel Pratap Simha C T Ravi and D V Sadananda GowdaHe has however stressed that he is not against Prime Minister Narendra ModiAhead of the Assembly polls last year opting out of the contest he had asked the partys central leadership that he wished to retire from electoral politics and requested it to not consider fielding him from any constituencyModi had then dialled Eshwarappa and spoke to him over a video call and expressed appreciation for his move to retire from poll politics as per the instructions from the partyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever