Shivaram Hebbar says ‘inevitable situation being created’ for him to quit BJP

BJP legislator from Yellapur Shivaram Hebbar said on Saturday that no action was taken against party office-bearers who worked against him in the Assembly elections. 

This was creating an inevitable situation for him to quit the party, Hebbar said. 

The legislator’s statement comes in the backdrop of the reported attempts by the Congress to lure back legislators who had deserted the party to join the BJP in 2019, paving the way for the saffron party to come to power.

Hebbar was among the Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP at that time. 

On Saturday, Hebbar held a meeting with over a hundred BJP-supported members from 10 Gram Panchayats under Banavasi hobli. 

“I have nowhere said that I will resign from the BJP. But the party’s disciplinary committee failed to act against hundreds of office-bearers who worked to defeat me in the elections, even after them I approached the committee with a complaint. Today, the same people are taking part in party events,” the former minister in the BJP government said. 

“I have never been cheated by the common party worker. But how can I organise the party, when rivals within are not acted against?,” he said. 

The GP members who took part in the meeting expressed support to any decision taken by the legislator. 

Hebbar later called on former Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri at the latter’s office in Sirsi and held discussions. 

Kageri expressed displeasure over the inaction by the pparty’s disciplinary committee against those who worked to get Hebbar defeated in the polls.