Karnataka: Big Relief For BJP as Housing Minister Somanna Scotches Speculations Of Quitting Party, Terms Yediyurappa 'Supreme Leader'

Scotching speculations that he was planning to switch political allegiance, Senior BJP leader and Housing Minister V Somanna on Wednesday (Mar 29) y termed former Chief Minister and BJP Central Parliamentary Board Member B S Yediyurappa the "supreme leader".

An intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ensured Somanna did not leave the party fold.

"Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is a smart person and has given better administration. Yediyurappa is the supreme leader," Somanna told the media.

Addressing reporters on his ministry's achievements, Somanna stated, "Our government has been in power for 3 years and 10 months. I have used tough language many times. If anyone is hurt with the language, they should forgive. Politics is a bed of thorns,"

Somanna was reportedly upset over his omission from the party's Election Campaign Committee and Election Management Committee, announced in the upcoming polls' run-up. Despite being the district in-charge Minister, he was also upset that BJP did not entrust him with managing party's Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra launched from the Chamarajanagar district.

The five-term MLA also is said to have had a bitter fallout with Yediyurappa, his original mentor in the party.

According to party insiders, the state leadership also shot down Somanna's proposal to field his son Arun Somanna in the upcoming polls.

His abrupt exit midway at Nagarbhavi while the BJP roadshow in his constituency was on added further speculation about his possible exit.

Several reports emerged in local media that Somanna, believed to be miffed over being sidelined in the party affairs, was considering leaving the BJP and joining the Congress ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections.

A section of local media reported that Somanna held negotiations with Congress party leaders seeking tickets for the Govindarajanagar constituency in Bengaluru and the Hanur constituency in Chamarajanagar. However, the talks did not make headway due to the stiff resistance within the party.

An influential Lingayat leader, Somanna quit the Congress to join BJP in the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Somanna, elected on a Congress ticket from Govindarajanagar in the 2008 Assembly elections last year, relinquished his seat after joining the BJP.

In the by-election held in 2009, Somanna, contesting this time as a BJP candidate, lost to Priya Krishna, son of senior Congress leader M Krishnappa,

Somanna played a key role in the victory of senior BJP leader H N Ananthkumar from Bengaluru South constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. As a reward for his work, he was inducted into the Yediyurappa-led state cabinet in June 2009. He was made a member of the state legislative council. He also later helped BJP gain a majority in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election.

In the 2018 assembly election, Somanna won from the Govindarajanagar with a margin of 11,375 votes. He did not contest the 2013 elections.

Originally from the Janata Dal, Somanna served as a minister in the state cabinet headed by late CM J H Patel.

Somanna had won 5 times since 1994, on a Janata Dal ticket, as an independent, twice on a Congress ticket and once as a BJP candidate.