BJP’s Pralhad Joshi reacts amid row over nomination from Dharwad

Union minister Pralhad Joshi, whose candidature from the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency has been opposed by a section of Lingayat seers in his home state Karnataka, on Saturday refused to react to their statements, and said he will ‘win with their blessings.’

“I am not aware. I do not want to react to their statements. I will win with their blessings. I can’t say more,” Joshi said.

The minister has won the seat in three consecutive Lok Sabha elections – 2009, 2014, 2019 – and has been renominated from here by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming general elections. He is among only nine Lok Sabha members from the state to be renominated by the Centre’s ruling party.

Karnataka, which has 28 parliamentary segments, will vote on April 26 and May 7, in the second and third phase of the seven-phase nationwide polling. In 2019, as many as 25 BJP candidates, including Joshi, won in Karnataka.

Who is opposing Joshi’s candidature?

The Dharwad MP’s candidature has been opposed by some seers from the influential Lingayat community, to which BS Yediyurappa, the BJP’s tallest leader in the southern state of which Yediyurappa is an ex-chief minister, comes from.

A few Lingayat seers feel that Joshi was behind the saffron party replacing Yediyurappa as chief minister in July 2021.

“Joshi has done his revenge politics. The Dharwad Lok Sabha ticket should be changed. We will convey this to the BJP high command. The majority of Lingayat votes are in Dharwad district,” Dingaleshwar Swami, a community pontiff, said at a press conference on Thursday, and gave the party ‘ultimatum’ till April 2 to reconsider its decision to field the minister from Dharwad.

Murugha Mutt distances itself

However, the prominent Murugha Mutt distanced itself from the remark made by Dingaleshwar Swami, who is from the Shirahatti Mutt.

“Swamiji’s statement has nothing to do with the Dharwad Murugha Mutt. Our mutt never participates in political matters. Finalising candidature is the decision of the concerned parties,” it said in a statement.

(With ANI inputs)