File image of Senior BJP leader and former Karnataka deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa.
Credit: DH Photo
Shivamogga: Former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa said on Tuesday that the BJP’s tally fell from 108 to 66 in the last Assembly elections not because of the party workers, but due to the folly of some leaders.
Eshwarappa was addressing a meeting of his supporters under the banner of Rashtra Bhaktara Balaga here.
The former BJP state president said when he was asked to retire from electoral politics by the party’s central leaders last year, he agreed to do so. "I was the only one to do it. But my son was denied the ticket for Lok Sabha polls. Is it my fault?" he said.
Eshwarappa said he was not re-inducted into the Basavaraj Bommai Cabinet, even though he got a clean chit in the contractor Santosh Patil suicide (40% commission) case.
This was because former CM B S Yediyurappa insisted that his son B Y Vijayendra should also be made a minister, if Eshwarappa were to be re-inducted. This, even though Vijayendra was not even an MLA then.
Eshwarappa said he would file his nomination papers as an independent from Shimoga seat by going in a procession with 25,000 of his supporters on April 12, adding that his symbol was yet to be decided.