Amid speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership would field B.S. Yeddyurappa, president of the party’s State unit, for the Assembly elections from a north Karnataka constituency, the veteran leader has said that given an option, he will contest from his home turf, Shikaripur.
Mr. Yeddyurappa has won from Shikaripur for seven times from 1983. He told presspersons here on Wednesday that he owed a lot to the people of Shikaripur.
He declared that in all probability, he would contest from Shikaripur, the place with which he has an emotional attachment.
When asked about reports on the party leadership’s plan to field him from north Karnataka to woo Lingayats, he said if the party leadership takes such a decision, he would abide by it without any qualms.
Mr. Yeddyurappa brushed aside reports on his contest from Teradal constituency in Bagalkot district as mere rumours. There were invitations from BJP activists to contest from Bidar, Kalaburagi and Belagavi districts also. However, the party leadership would take a final call over the issue, he said.
He said his party would launch ‘Karnataka Parivartana Yatra’ to expose alleged corruption prevailing in the State government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would launch the campaign in Bengaluru on November 2. The BJP would put up a unified fight against the Congress in the Assembly elections. He said minor differences that had prevailed in the BJP State unit in the past had been resolved and he was working in tandem with B.L. Santhosh, national joint organisational secretary of the party.
To a query, he said he would support the stand taken by Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha that the terms Lingayat and Veerashaiva were synonymous. It was unfair to create confusion over the issue, he said.
