Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said ex-CM Jagadish Shettar had taken the right decision at the right time by rejoining the BJP — the party he had left last year ahead of the Assembly elections to join the Congress, while predicting “big political developments in Karnataka” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“Shettar did not join the Congress out of any love for the grand old party but because of unhappiness with the saffron party. I have seen him closely from the days of Jan Sangh and his DNA does not match the Congress.
“He might have been in Congress but his heart was still with the BJP. He understood the mentality of the Congress only after joining it. Shettar’s return to the BJP will benefit both the party and himself,” he told reporters.
Bommai further said “it was only the beginning as there would be ‘ghar wapsi’ for some key Congress leaders”, claiming “the Congress would get divided into factions.
The former chief minister also said that “no one can blackmail Shettar but Karnataka unit Congress chief D.K. Shivakunar had been doing blackmail politics since the beginning”.
Bommai said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi always believed in the theory of ‘nation first’.
“The country’s development has been his top priority. The BJP does not belong to any caste or community. PM Modi has leadership qualities and for that reason Shettar returned to the party fold.
“I will campaign for the candidates who are given tickets to contest in the coming Lok Sabha polls. All of us will work hard to ensure a third consecutive Prime Ministerial term for Narendra Modi,” he added.
–IANS