Revolt in Karnataka BJP as senior leader Eshwarappa to contest as independent
Shivamogga (Karnataka) (PTI): Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Friday announced that he will contest as an independent candidate from the Shimoga seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, blaming party veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for his son K E Kantesh being denied a ticket for the Haveri constituency.
However, he claimed that this was a fight to save the party and its ideology and to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister once again.
"I will contest as your independent candidate from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency," Eshwarappa said, announcing his banner of revolt against BJP, at a meeting convened by his supporters.
"The party may issue notice to me or expel me. In case I win within two months, I'm confident that my supporters will join me at the feet of my mother -- the BJP," he added.
Yediyurappa's son and sitting MP B Y Raghavendra is the party candidate from Shimoga, where Congress has fielded former Chief Minister S Bangarappa's daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar, wife of Kannada film star Shivarajkumar and daughter-in-law of thespian late Dr Rajkumar.
The 75-year-old former Deputy Chief Minister reiterated his allegation that Yediyurappa, a member of the BJP Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee, had assured a ticket for his son and promised to campaign for his victory, but had now "cheated" him.
Eshwarappa said that Yediyurappa had ensured a ticket for Bommai and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, but "not for his son".
BJP has fielded former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from the Haveri seat.
ALSO READ: Did not cheat Eshwarappa, obeyed high command orders: Basavaraj Bommai
Eshwarappa claimed that Kantesh had prepared himself to contest from Haveri after taking Yediyurappa's consent. "If Kantesh had contested Haveri he would have surely won," he said.
He alleged that BJP's state unit is in the clutches of the Yediyurappa family, with one son as MP and the other son B Y Vijayendra as MLA and state president. He questioned if the Congress' culture of dynastic politics had crept into the Karnataka BJP.
Eshwarappa, who is a former state BJP president, also 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. Incidentally, Kateel, Simha and Gowda--all sitting MPs-- have been denied tickets for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Eshwarappa, Yediyurappa and the late HN Ananth Kumar are widely credited for building the BJP in Karnataka from the grassroots.
Pointing out that he has served the party for over 40 years, Eshwarappa said that he would never quit the party in his life, but was taking a decision to save the ideology and principles of the party.
However, Eshwarappa repeatedly stressed that he is not opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Even if my life goes, I will not go against Narendra Modi. If my heart is opened there will be Lord Rama on one side, and Modi on the other."
He called on his supporters to unite and work together to ensure his victory so that the issues in the party are noticed by the national leadership which would help "save the BJP from one family" and ensure that "justice is done to lakhs of workers and Hindutva activists".
Eshwarappa also said that he was taking this position not just because his son had been denied the ticket. "I want the organisation to survive, the party should not go into the clutches of one family," he said. He also claimed that Yediyurappa's recent assurance of making Kantesh an MLC was a lie.
Earlier in the day in Bengaluru, in response to these developments, Yediyurappa said, "We will convince Eshwarappa. He should be with us, he is our senior leader. I'm confident that everything will be fine."
Ahead of the Assembly polls last year, Eshwarappa opted out of the contest and requested the party's central leadership to not field him from any constituency as he wished to retire from electoral politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had then dialled Eshwarappa and spoken to him over a video call to express appreciation for his move to retire from politics as per the instructions of the party.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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