BENGALURU: Newly inducted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagadish Shettar said that it seems that he has come back “home”, after he joined the party. “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is my home. I came back to my home,” Shettar said speaking to reporters on Thursday.
The former Karnataka CM, who had joined the Congress ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections last year, returned to the BJP on Thursday. Shettar said he had a meeting with the party’s national leadership Amit Shah and J P Nadda on Thursday as well as state leaders B Y Vijayendra, B S Yediyurappa and joined the BJP following their guidance.
To a question on whether he will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Shettar said, “Whatever the high command directs, I will do.”
Shettar also said that he does not have any complaints against his former party colleagues. “After 9 months, I rejoined the BJP. It is my home, and I am happy about it. I joined the Congress during the 2023 Assembly elections. They gave me respect and honour, and I expressed my gratitude to the CM and Deputy CM yesterday for their good treatment. There is no complaint against the Congress party”, Shettar said on Friday.
Speaking about the recently held Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya, he said, “Ram Mandir was the dream of everybody. That has come to fruition”.
On Mamata Banerjee deciding not to share any seat with the INDIA bloc in West Bengal, Shettar said that alliances do not work out wherever there are contradictory interests. “Wherever contradictory interests are present, it does not work out”, he said.
Senior BJP leader Yediyurappa welcomed Jagadish Shettar to the party and said that the latter was thinking of rejoining the party for the last few days.
“He (Jagadish Shettar) was thinking of coming back to BJP and we welcomed him back to the party…He met Amit Shah and discussed many things and, without any condition, he has joined our party. We welcome Jagadish Shettar to our party,” Yediyurappa told reporters on Thursday.
To a question on whether Laxman Savadi, who too had quit the party ahead of the Assembly elections, will rejoin the party, Yediyurappa said, “I could not contact him, I will contact him.”
Shettar rejoined the BJP in the national capital on Thursday in the presence of former Karnakata chief minister B S Yediyurappa, Union Minister Bhupender Singh Yadav, Karnataka BJP president Vijayendra Yediyurappa and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
There had been ongoing rumours about Shettar’s return to the BJP for the past few days, to which the Congress leaders in Karnataka had responded by saying that the BJP’s leadership crisis in the state prompted the party to head towards Shettar. (ANI)