Senior BJP leader Eshwarappa skips PM Modi's rally, in embarrassment to party ahead of LS polls
Shivamogga (Karnataka), Mar 18: Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa, who has raised a banner of revolt over denial of ticket to his son to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from Haveri, on Monday skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally here, in an embarrassment to the party.
The 75-year-old former Deputy Chief Minister, who has turned down the invitation to attend the event, was seen visiting maths of various communities.
Eshwarappa has announced he will contest as an independent candidate from Shimoga (Shivamogga) in the coming Lok Sabha polls, blaming veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra, who is state BJP President, for his son K E Kantesh being denied ticket.
Yediyurappa's son and sitting MP B Y Raghavendra is the BJP candidate from Shimoga, and Eshwarappa is firm on contesting against him despite efforts by the party leaders to pacify him.
Eshwarappa, a former BJP state president, Yediyurappa and former Union Minister late H N Ananth Kumar were widely credited with building the party from the grassroots in Karnataka. Yediyurapa and Eshwarappa hail from Shivamogga district.
Eshwarappa has alleged that Yediyurappa, who is a member of the Parliamentary Board, had promised Kantesh the ticket to contest from Havari but betrayed him.
Yediyurappa has denied the charge, saying candidates are finalised by the party's central election committee and he had no role in it.
BJP leaders, including party national general secretary and State poll in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, met Eshwarappa to persuade him to change his decision but he stood his ground.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has got BJP's Haveri ticket.
Eshwarappa has alleged that the BJP in Karnataka is in the clutches of the Yediyurappa family, and has claimed that his fight was to "save the party and its ideology" in the state on behalf of "hurt party workers", and to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister once again.
He has also said that several Hindutva leaders were being neglected by Yediyurappa and Vijayendra.
Speaking to reporters, Vijayendra expressed confidence about the Eshwarappa revolt issue getting resolved, and said it was natural for aspirants to get upset on not getting the ticket to contest elections.
Acknowledging Eshwarappa's contribution in building and strengthening the BJP in Karnataka, he said the candidates for Lok Sabha polls were decided by the party's national leadership, and it was not his decision.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
