Jaggesh pips Tara to council

BANGALORE: While the party was unanimous about RSS member P V Krishna Bhatta's candidature to the legislative council, differences erupted in the BJP when actor and former MLA Jaggesh's name was proposed.
Yeddyurappa's camp wanted to nominate cine star Tara, but transport minister R Ashoka and BJP Bangalore legislators backed Jaggesh's name.
The coordination committee, that met on January 24, had in fact finalized Tara's name, much against the wishes of the Vokkaliga camp in the party."While many defector MLAs have been made ministers, Jaggesh was not given a ticket to the Lok Sabha, despite an assurance given to him by the party, following his resignation. He deserved to be nominated to the council,'' sources said.
It is said that differences had cropped up between Yeddyurappa and Ashoka over Jaggesh's nomination. Tumkur BJP leaders had also urged Yeddyurappa not to consider Jaggesh's name for the post.
The coordination committee, which for the first time met under its new party president K S Eshwarappa on Monday, favoured Jaggesh over Tara. Denying there was a rift in the party over nominations, Ashoka told TOI that Jaggesh's name was unanimously cleared at the meeting. "It was the decision of the chief minister and party president to nominate Jaggesh to the Upper House. No section of the party was unhappy nor pressured the CM in this regard,'' Ashoka maintained.
JAGGESH THANKS ALL
Elated over his nomination to the legislative council, Jaggesh said: "I should thank Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa, Ananth Kumar, Ashoka, Katta Subramanya Naidu and Bangalore MLAs. I was always motivated to strengthen the party. This nomination will give me more strength.''