Bengaluru: While the BJP has been using dynasty politics as a tool against its arch nemesis Congress for a long time now, the BJP itself has become a symbol of it in Karnataka. Currently, more than 50 MPs, MLAs, and Legislative Council members of the BJP in the state are from a family political background.
If the party's approach opposed to dynasty politics is applied in Karnataka, it might just backfire considering the number of its leaders who have come up from an existing political background. The party will then be very unlikely of retaining its power again in the state.
Among the Lok Sabha members in the state, Tumkur MP GC Basavaraja's son Jyoti Ganesh is an MLA, while Shimoga MP B Y Raghavendra is the son of former CM Yediyurappa. Chikkodi MP Annasaheb's wife Sasikala Jolle is A Cabinet Minister. Kalburgi MP Umesh Jadhav's son Avinash Jadhav is an MLA, while Chamarajanagar MP V Srinivasa Prasad's son-in-law Harshvardhan is also an MLA.
Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya's uncle Ravi Subramanya is also the current MLA of the Karnataka state Assembly. Bellary MP Devendrappa is a close relative of former minister Ramesh Jarakiholi. Former MP of Raichur, Sanna Fakirappa is also relative of Minister Sriramulu. Karunakara Reddy's brother Somasekhara Reddy is also one of the MLAs of the BJP. Moreover, Hanumanthappa Nirani is the brother of Industries Minister Murugesha Nirani, while Pradeep Shettar, a member of the Legislative Council is also the brother of former CM Jagdish Shettar.
Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai is also from a family political background. Bommai's father SR Bommai was Karnataka's Chief Minister and Union Minister. Soraba MLA Kumar Bangarappa's father S Bangarappa was former BJP MP as well as Ex Chief Minister. With this many people already having a family background in politics, more leaders are looking forward to getting their
As the state and local elections approach, most of the MLAs and MPs in the BJP are expecting party tickets for their children, siblings and close relatives. Some have even decided to switch to BJP for a better political career for their children. Minister MTB Nagaraj has already joined the BJP keeping in mind the benefits his son may be able to reap its benefits further in his political career.
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The ministers who are looking forward to securing party tickets for the elections include both big and small leaders in the state. Former CM Yediyurappa, Ex-minister KS Eshwarappa, Former CM Jagadish Shettar, MP BN Bachegowda, former MP Prabhakar Kore, Minister Govinda Karajola, and Minister V Somanna are all trying to get tickets for their children, while some other ministers like Umesh Katti are trying to secure it for their siblings and other relatives.
Prime Minister Modi and BJP National General Secretary B. L Santosh have been critically vocal about family politics. It is said that this is the reason why the BJP high command denied a ticket to former CM Yediyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra in the Mysore District Varuna constituency during the last assembly elections. Former Union Minister Ananthkumar's wife Tejaswini Ananthkumar was also denied a ticket in the previous Lok Sabha elections.
Several of the party's decisions have upset many BJP leaders. Chief Minister Yediyurappa, for example, was quite upset with the party's negative approach towards dynasty politics, which deprived his son B Y Vijayendra of a suitable post. He had expected that the government and the party should move forward according to his vision and his son Vijayendra should be given the position of Deputy Chief Minister or at least the post of minister of an important portfolio in Chief Minister Bommai's Cabinet. The party denied him that and in a fit of rage, he even announced that he would retire from electoral politics, clearly expressing his disappointment with the BJP high command.
However, when Union Minister Suresh Angadi, the Belgaum MP, succumbed to Covid last year in the by-election of the Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency, Suresh Angadi's wife Maghala Angadi won a hard-fought victory. Several BJP party workers had opined that the BJP would have lost if they had given tickets to anyone else other than Angadi's wife.
Deciding readily against dynasty politics is no more a convenient option for the BJP high command in Karnataka. With many of BJP's Lok Sabha members and MLAs in the state already having a family background in politics, it is indeed a big challenge for the BJP's top brass to introduce newcomers in the fray while sticking to their virtue that goes against dynasty politics. It shall be interesting to see how the party tackles this problem or if it turns into an issue capable of affecting the political dynamics in the state.
