Jagdish Shettar alleges BL Santosh and blamed for getting his ticket denied by the BJP High Command

Prevailing BJP’s national general secretary BL Santosh is in the spotlight these days. Former Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar alleged Santosh and blamed him for plotting and making strategies with the saffron party against him. Hence, his ticket for the May 10th assembly polls was denied and created a situation that forced Shettar to break his long alliance with the party, Shettar informed. Shettar further said, "BL Santosh wanted to bring Mahesh Tenginkai as a BJP contender from Hubballi Dharwad Central. BJP will vanish from the entire Karnataka if Santosh works like this and gives importance to a person rather than a party,” Shettar added.However, former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that it is unfair to blame Santosh. The allegation is baseless. He said, “I took the decision to give up without anyone’s interference and on my own. Similarly, the concept applied to other senior members including Shettar.”

Shettar further said, “I fail to understand why high command and other top leaders of BJP have so much trust in Santosh who failed to work as a BJP election in charge in various states. A conspiracy was working against me and I informed JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, and other senior officials in the party but no one took me seriously. BS Yediyurappa too was helpless in this regard.” It is to be noted that Santosh protected the interests of the saffron party during difficult times and stood like a pillar for the party. His relationship with Yediyurappa was cordial initially but differences arose in 2008 on account of the way the government was working. Loksabha members like Tejasvi Surya, and Pratap Simha are said to be Santosh’s disciples and supporters. Girish Mattennavar was appointed by Santosh as the State President of BJP Yuva Morch in 2007.It is pertinent to mention that hails from Udupi, 56-year-old Santosh was RSS propagator in 1993. From RSS he was then appointed as BJP state organization secretary in 2006. Shobha Karandlaje, BJP election management committee chairperson who worked closely with him said, “He was instrumental in digitizing the system and processes in the party. BJP worked well ahead of other parties just because of the efforts of Santosh.” Later Santosh was appointed as the joint national general secretary (organization) in 2014, and in 2019, promoted to the national general secretary (organization) and was considered second to the national party president in BJP’s organizational hierarchy.