BJP expels rebel Karnataka leader KS Eshwarappa for six years
Bengaluru, Apr 22: The BJP on Monday expelled rebel leader K S Eshwarappa for six years for violating party discipline and contesting Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate.
The former deputy chief minister who had also served as the party's state unit president, has entered the poll fray, blaming state BJP president B Y Vijayendra and his father and veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa, for his son K E Kantesh being denied the ticket to contest from Haveri.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has got BJP's Haveri ticket, while Vijayendra's brother and MP B Y Raghavendra is the BJP candidate from Shimoga.
"Ignoring the party's directions, you are contesting as a rebel candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, causing embarrassment to the party. This is violation of party discipline," state disciplinary committee president Lingaraj Patil said in the expulsion order.
It said, "so, you have been relieved from all the responsibilities and have been expelled from the party for six years, with immediate effect."
The 75-year-old Eshwarappa, had remained steadfast in his decision to contest, spurning efforts by party leaders to pacify him. He had even filed his nomination as an independent candidate.
The party's decision to expel the former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, came on the last day for withdrawal of candidature for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on May 7.
Eshwarappa, along with Yediyurappa and the late H N Ananth Kumar, is widely credited for building the BJP from the grassroots in Karnataka.
Claiming that the party in the state is in the clutches of its Parliamentary board member Yediyurappa and his family, with his one son as MP and other son Vijayendra as MLA and the state BJP president, Eshwarappa, has repeatedly accused Yediyurappa of sidelining those who espoused the cause of Hindutva like Nalin Kumar Kateel, Pratap Simha, C T Ravi and D V Sadananda Gowda.
He has, however, stressed that he is not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ahead of the Assembly polls last year, opting out of the contest, he had asked the party's central leadership that he wished to retire from electoral politics and requested it to not consider fielding him from any constituency.
Modi had then dialled Eshwarappa and spoke to him over a video call and expressed appreciation for his move to retire from poll politics, as per the instructions from the party.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
