Congress to provide plum position to Jagadish Shettar

Bengaluru, May 15 (IANS) The Congress would provide a plum position to former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who had left the BJP and joined it on the eve of the Assembly elections but could not win his seat, as per party leaders.

The powerful leader has been a six-term MLA and a former state President of the BJP. In the recent assembly elections, he, however, lost his Hubbali-Central Dharwad Assembly seat by a margin of 34,289 votes to Mahesh Tenginakai of the BJP.

While Shettar could not win his turf, his clout in the Lingayat-dominated areas of north Karnataka has led to the Congress winning many of these seats, thus crushing the BJP.

The Congress think tanks have already reported to the party state leadership that Shettar parting ways with the BJP was a major catalyst for the Congress to win the polls in Lingayat-dominated areas and hence he should be properly rewarded.

Shettar had not joined the previous BJP government of Basavaraj Bommai citing that Bommai was much junior to him. The Congress is trying hard to accommodate Shettar in the Congress government that would be sworn in within a few days.

Sources in the Congress party told IANS that senior party national leaders are in touch with the former Chief Minister and he is staying back in Bengaluru.

Talking to IANS over telephone, Shettar said: "I have joined the Congress unconditionally and I don't have an answer regarding posts."

Senior Congress leaders, however, told IANS in private that the former Chief Minister would be given a berth in the new Cabinet or he could even be considered for the post of party's Working President.

Shettar, according to sources in Congress, enjoys an excellent rapport with its senior state leaders, including D.K. Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, and others.