Santhosh’s supporters in Arsikere blamed Yediyurappa for denying him a ticket. File photo/Twitter
Sources say that after Arsikere was denied nomination by the BJP, a fuming Santosh is likely to contest on a JD(S) ticket as the party’s sitting MLA KM Shivalinga Gowda has joined the Congress.
A highly controversial youth, Santosh was a close confidante of BJP stalwart BS Yediyurappa in the state. Santosh played a major role in bringing down the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2019 and making his boss the chief minister again. Soon after, Yediyurappa’s ambitious son B.Y. A rift broke out between Vijayendra and Santosh, and Santosh was shown the way out.
Santhosh’s supporters in Arsikere blamed Yediyurappa for denying him a ticket. A teary-eyed Santosh attacked “vested interests” for his plight and his supporters burnt party flags in protest.
“Give me some time, I will contest. I will decide in a day or two,” Santosh told them.
Sources say Santosh is likely to contest on a JD(S) ticket as the party’s sitting MLA KM Shivalinga Gowda has joined the Congress.
NR Santosh is still a mysterious character who came out of nowhere and became a close confidant of BSY in 2013-14. During the 2018 assembly elections, he was the favorite figure in the state BJP and wielded tremendous influence. He was instrumental in “kidnapping” Congress and JD(S) MLAs in 2019 and taking them to Mumbai, which eventually led to the fall of the 14-month-old HD Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka. He worked closely with minister Ramesh Jharkholi in that coup. Everyone in the party was expecting that Santosh would be rewarded by BSY for his role.
Surprisingly, Vijayendra took full charge of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and made Santosh a nonentity in the corridors of power.
Under pressure, BSY appointed Santosh as an advisor. But he was denied the perks associated with access and power. When he was asked to leave, a despondent Santosh allegedly tried to end his life by consuming sleeping pills and BSY decided to sack him.
After these incidents Santosh shifted his base to Arsikere in Hassan district and started building his base there. Two years ago, he announced his candidature from Arsikere and started spending a lot of money to woo voters and supporters. He started dropping names of top RSS leaders as his godfathers and personally attacked Vijayendra for ousting him from BSY’s house.
His activities worried Vijayendra and he convinced his father that Santosh should be taught a lesson. After Basavaraj Bommai became the Chief Minister, Vijayendra’s stock fell, and people felt that Santhosh would surely secure the BJP nomination from Arsikere.
In the last two years, Santosh has reportedly spent crores of rupees on various activities in Arsikere and was set to contest on the symbol of lotus. To their utter shock and misfortune, the BJP high command brought BSY back from the cold storage of politics six months ago and made him the party’s publicity chief. Realizing that the Karnataka elections are about caste and sub-castes, the top officials allowed BSY to decide most of the candidates, pouring cold water on Santosh’s life-long ambition.
Santosh came into limelight during Siddaramaiah’s rule after a “sting” operation against Vinay, the personal assistant of BSY’s rival KS Eshwarappa. He evaded police by allegedly hiding at BSY’s New Delhi residence and the case against him was quietly buried after Yeddyurappa came to power.
Santosh claims that he is the grandson of BSY’s niece and that makes Yeddyurappa his grandfather. He was also close to BSY’s confidante and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje in those days.
Before Santosh’s mysterious entry, BSY had a man on Friday, Kapu Siddalingaswamy, who had a lot of power. He even contested the Varuna assembly constituency to Siddaramaiah in 2013 on BSY’s short-lived Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) ticket and stood second.
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