Shivaram Hebbar’s induction sharpens fault lines in Uttara Kannada BJP

KARWAR: Shivaram Hebbar’s inclusion in chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s cabinet may sharpen fault lines within the Uttara Kannada district unit of the saffron party. An unassuming man known to have a connect with the grassroots, Hebbar jumped ship from the Congress to BJP in 2019. An MLA from Yellapur constituency, Hebbar, however, struggled to retain the seat in the byelection, his margin of victory only a little over 1,500 votes.However, Hebbar was among the many legislators, the defection by whom topped the HD Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress coalition government, was inducted into BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet as labour minister.
Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, who served as the speaker of the legislative assembly during Yediyurappa’s tenure, is the BJP’s most senior leader in the district, having been elected to the assembly six times on the trot. Yediyurappa was compelled to include Hebbar in his cabinet since the latter’s defection had helped the BJP stake claim to power in the state. Furthermore, the party’s central leadership coaxed Kageri into accepting the speaker’s post.
In fact, the rivalry between Kageri and Hebbar dates back to more than two-and-a-half decades. Hebbar had been the BJP’s Uttara Kannada district unit president in 1995, but his rivalry with Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde and Kageri impelled him to leave the party and join the Congress.
The other legislator from Uttara Kannada district who has had to swallow the bitter pill of being excluded from the cabinet is Karwar MLA Roopali Naik, who had been camping in Bengaluru for the past one week and lobbying for a berth. Kumta MLA Dinakar Shetty was yet another ministerial aspirant, but he went about lobbying for a berth in Bommai’s cabinet, more silently.
Workers and functionaries in the Uttara Kannada BJP fear that Hebbar’s inclusion into Bommai’s cabinet at the expense of other saffron party loyalists will widen the wedge within the party in the coastal district. They will watch eagerly to see if the new CM manages to keep all the disappointed aspirants happy. “It is now up to Hebbar, who will have to ensure that his inclusion does not leave the party in Uttara Kannada a divided house,” a BJP functionary said.