Karnataka: BJP ‘rebel’ Raghupati Bhat gets notice as party mulls action against ex-MLA

At the South West Graduates constituency, BJP has fielded Dr Dhananjay Sarji, much to the annoyance of Bhat, a three-time BJP MLA who ceded his Udupi Legislative Assembly seat to Yashpal Suvarna in the 2023 elections.

The notice was issued on Wednesday by Lingaraj Patil, president of the state disciplinary committee, directing Bhat to issue a clarification in front of the committee within the next two days. Contesting as a rebel candidate amounted to indiscipline, the notice read.

Speaking to reporters, BJP general secretary and former minister V Sunil Kumar issued another plea for the ex-MLA to retire from the race. “Or else, it will be inevitable to take disciplinary action against you,” he said. After Bhat announced his candidature as a rebel candidate earlier this month, the BJP state unit had tasked Kumar to convince Bhat to withdraw his nomination papers. However, Bhat refused to stand down.

Kumar, meanwhile, was hopeful that Bhat would change his mind within the next 24 to 48 hours. The South West Graduates constituency along with South Teachers is among the two constituencies where the coalition faced open rebellion over the choice of candidates.

The BJP, initially, had announced candidates on five seats but conceded the South Teachers’ seat to JD(S) days before the final date for filing nominations. Ningarajegowda, who had filed his nomination papers as BJP candidate for South Teachers’, withdrew from the race as the party decided to back JD(S) candidate K Vivekananda.

Congress has fielded former MLCs Marithibbe Gowda from South Teachers and Aayanur Manjunath from South West Graduates constituency. While Gowda resigned as JD(S) MLC in March this year, Manjunath resigned in 2023 to quit BJP and join JD(S) ahead of Assembly polls in May. He joined Congress in August.