How Jagadish Shettar ‘homecoming’ boosts BJP’s LS game plan in north Karnataka

The return of former chief minister and six-time MLA Jagadish Shettar, 68, to the BJP fold following a nine-month stint with the Congress has come as a shot in the arm to the BJP in the Lingayat belt in northern Karnataka ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

BJP sources said Shettar, who belongs to the Lingayat community, has been “guaranteed” a Lok Sabha poll ticket by the BJP top brass while reinducting him into the party.

Shettar is likely to be the BJP’s candidate for the Belagavi parliamentary seat where the party does not have a strong candidate since the death of its four-time MP Suresh Angadi in 2020. He could also be fielded from Dharwad or Haveri.

“There has been an assurance that Shettar will be fielded by the party in the Lok Sabha polls. The seat was not discussed but the state leadership is keen on fielding him from Belagavi,” said BJP sources.

After rejoining the BJP on January 25, Shettar had claimed that he was doing it without any conditions. “The issues before the country is unity, protection of the country and development and PM Modi has been working over the last decade to strengthen the country and our wish is that he should be PM again and that the BJP must become stronger,” he had then said.

Shettar’s return would however facilitate the BJP’s search for strong candidates in some key Lingayat-dominated constituencies in north Karnataka.

Following the demise of Suresh Angadi, the BJP fielded his wife Mangala Angadi in the Belagavi bypoll in 2021. She managed to win the seat with a slim margin of 5240 votes, beating local Congress strongman Sathish Jarkiholi, a Scheduled Tribe leader, due to the sympathy factor. However, the loss of ground by the BJP in Belagavi with the deaths of other local Lingayat