Karnataka Assembly Election 2023: Jagadish Shettar - BJP's old friend-turned-foe

Karnataka Assembly Election 2023, Jagadish Shettar Profile: Jagadish Shivappa Shettar served as the 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2012 to 2013. Shettar, 67, recently switched to the Congress after the BJP refused to give tickets to him and Laxman Savadi — a former deputy chief minister under the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP administration. They are both members of the Lingayat community, which is believed to have a significant influence on the state's electoral outcomes. 

In the last elections, Shettar won from Hubli Dharwad Central constituency after defeating Congress’ Mahesh Nalwad by a margin of 21,306 votes. He defeated Nalwad in the 2013 elections by a margin of 17,754 votes. 

The Congress wants to win its first election from the Lingayat-dominating constituency, which was created after delimitation in 2008. Mahesh Tenginakayi, the BJP's state general secretary from the district, has filed to run in his first election. 

Jagadish Shettar: Political career

Shettar was overwhelmingly chosen as the speaker of the Karnataka legislative assembly in 2008, following the BJP's victory in the state's Assembly elections. He left this position, nevertheless, in 2009 to become the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in B.S. Yediyurappa's government. 

Several BJP MLAs from Yediyurappa camp asked for Shettar to succeed D.V. Sadananda Gowda as the CM in July 2012. The BJP High Command finally decided to appoint him as Chief Minister after much debate. He was sworn in on 12 July 2012. 

As the BJP lost its ability to hold onto power, Shettar resigned as chief minister. On May 8, 2013, he handed in his resignation to the Governor of Karnataka. In the May 2013 assembly elections, the BJP suffered a significant setback when the Congress swept the polls. 

After being refused a ticket for the 2023 Assembly election, he announced his resignation from the Bharatiya Janata Party and his position as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Shettar subsequently pledged to run for office in Hubli-Dharwad Central on behalf of the Congress Party and joined the Indian National Congress in the presence of INC leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Siddaramaiah.

Jagadish Shettar: Education and family background 

Shettar holds B.Com and LLB degrees and has worked as a lawyer for a couple of decades at the Hubli Bar. He married Shilpa and the couple have two sons - Prashant and Sankalp. He is a member of the Lingayat community. His father, S.S. Shettar, was the first Jana Sangh mayor of Hubli-Dharwad and a prominent Jana Sangh worker who was elected five times to the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation.