Striking down speculation that he would switch allegiance to the Congress, senior BJP leader and MLC, V Somanna said that he would never quit the BJP.
“I do not know who spread the news but it is false. Accusing a senior party leader of not staying loyal is not right. The BJP has given me everything and I will never think of quitting,” Somanna told Suvarna News.
“I was extremely distressed by the rumours. Even if there were differences between party leaders, it is better to sort it out amongst ourselves,” he added.
Widespread speculation prevailed among political circles that the senior BJP leader may join the Congress party. Somanna, who is known to shift allegiances, had hopped from the Congress to join the BJP in 2009, when BS Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister.
Media reports on Thursday suggested that Somanna did not support Yeddyurappa when the latter had quit BJP to form his own party, the KJP, in 2013.
There was also some speculation in political circles that Somanna has not been happy with the BJP ever since Yeddyurappa was made the party’s state President, media reports said.
The senior leader is a close friend of Yeddyurappa, but rumours suggest that he has had a falling out with the party’s state president recently.
Somanna, a four-time MLA, had won the elections as a Congress candidate from Govindrajnagar Assembly constituency in 2008. He resigned his post and joined the BJP in 2009 and lost the polls to Priya S Krishna, the Housing Minister.
Somanna lost the 2013 polls as well. He had contested from the Vijayanagar constituency. Since then, he has been developing a base in Hanur constituency, banking on its sizable Lingayat population.