Rebuffed by MLAs, Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba walks out of Karnataka BJP meet

Bengaluru: Infighting in the Karnataka BJP exploded on Wednesday at a meeting held to discuss the upcoming Lok Sabha polls with party leaders opposing the re-nomination of two sitting MPs, one of them being union minister Bhagwanth Khuba who walked out in a huff.

Party functionaries also opposed giving Koppal MP Karadi Sanganna another ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, however, played down the incident.

On Wednesday, BJP had convened a meeting to take stock of the party's situation in 13 Lok Sabha segments.

In Bidar, from where Khuba is the MP, BJP holds four out of six Assembly constituencies. BJP MLAs in Bidar hold bad blood towards Khuba, accusing him of working against the party's interests and trying to sabotage their electoral prospects during the Assembly polls. This surfaced at the meeting when they came face to face.

"Former minister Prabhu Chavan was the first to fire a salvo at Khuba. Even Sharnanu Salagar joined him and opposed Khuba's candidature," a source said.

Both MLAs raised high-pitched arguments against Khuba. The Union Minister also raised his voice and asserted that the selection of candidates was up to the BJP high command.

Before storming out of the meeting, Khuba asked the MLAs to simply state who their choice for the ticket was instead of making demands that he should not be re-nominated.

MLAs threatened that they will not campaign for Khuba if he gets the Bidar ticket again.

During the meeting, Vijayendra said opinions would be forwarded to the top brass and urged leaders not to court controversies.

Sanganna, the Koppal MP, also faced resistance. BJP leaders of the district were of the opinion that the party had been giving "too much importance" to Sanganna and his family instead of giving opportunities to loyal workers.

“Not only is Sanganna an MP, but he also ensured an Assembly ticket to his daughter-in-law who lost," the source said.

Speaking to reporters, Vijayendra insisted that everyone was on the same page to ensure BJP's victory for the sake of PM Modi.

"We are moving in the right direction to win all 28 Lok Sabha seats,” he said.

Former CM DV Sadananda Gowda said such consultation meets provide an opportunity to hammer out minor differences within the party.

"It was also decided to prepare action plans in each Lok Sabha segment," he said.