Bengaluru, May 15 (BPNS)
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) would provide a plum position to former Chief Minister, Jagadish Shettar who had left BJP and joined Congress on the eve of the assembly elections of Karnataka.
Shettar, who is a powerful leader of Karnataka, has been a six term MLA, is former state president of the BJP and former Chief Minister of Karnataka. In the recent assembly elections, Jagadish Shettar, however, lost his Hubbali- Central Dharwad assembly seat by a margin of 34,289 votes to his nearest rival, Mahesh Tenginakai of the BJP.
While Jagadish Shettar could not win his turf, his clout in the Lingayat dominated areas of North Karnataka has led to the Congress party winning many of these seats thus crushing the BJP.
The Congress think tanks have already reported to the party state leadership that Shettar parting ways with the BJP was a major catalyst for the Congress to win the polls in Lingayat dominated areas and hence he should be properly rewarded.
Jagadish Shettar had not joined the previous BJP government of Basavaraj Bommai citing that Bommai was much junior to him. The Congress is trying hard to accommodate Shettar in the Congress government that would be sworn in within a few days.
Sources in the Congress party told BPNS that senior party national leaders are in touch with the former Chief Minister and he is staying back in Bengaluru.
While speaking to BPNS over telephone the former Chief Minister said,” I have joined Congress unconditionally and I don’t have an answer regarding postings.”
Senior Congress leaders, however, told BPNS in private that the former Chief Minister would be given a berth in the new Cabinet or he could even be considered for the post of party working president.
Jagadish Shettar, according to sources in Congress enjoys an excellent rapport with senior leaders of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, including DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, and others.
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