Hubli:Turncoat Congress candidate and former BJP Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar lost by 35,000 votes in Hubli-Dharwad constituency. Jagadish Shettar's whose political opportunism came in the way of his RSS ideology paid the price of switching sides just before the polls. He was a member of RSS from a young age, ABVP during his college life and then BJP throughout his political life. However, now he has severed his relationship with the BJP for 40 years and started a new political life by joining the Congress.
Shettar is the leader who has gained equal status politically after the current senior state BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa. A senior politician of the party who won six times in a row and flourished in the Hubli Dharwad Central constituency for 3 decades has left the party recently. Shettar, who was known for his party loyalty, went against the political dice of the high command and joined the Congress. He has entered the arena as a Congress candidate from Hubli-Dharwad Central Constituency.
Jagdish Shettar, who was a staunch BJP leader, has been an MLA from the BJP for 6 times, and now he has joined the Congress after not getting a chance to contest for the seventh time in the BJP. Shettar, who has handled many important responsibilities from BJP's taluk unit president to the post of chief minister of the state, has attracted attention as a good politician, a good administrator, and with an amicable nature.
Shettar, who belongs to the Banajiga sub-sect of Lingayats, is a Sangh loyalist. Shettar was born on December 17, 1955 in Kerur village in Badami taluk of present Bagalkote district. Now he is 67 years old. His father is Shivappa S. Shettar and mother is Basavanyamma. The Shettar family had been loyal to the Sangh since his father's time. S.S. Shettar was a senior leader of the Janasangh. He was elected to Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation 5 times. Apart from this, he also has the distinction of being the 'First Jana Sangh Mayor' of Hubli-Dharwad. His uncle Sadashiva Shettar was elected to the state assembly from Hubli city in 1967. He is credited with being the first Jana Sangh leader to the Legislative Assembly in South India.