Bengaluru: Jagadish Shettar, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka who joined Congress before the Assembly polls, has claimed that his exit from the BJP was engineered by the party's general secretary BL Santhosh.

The 67-year-old Lingayat leader alleged that Santhosh denied him a ticket to contest the election and orchestrated his humiliation.

It should be noted that Shettar's decision to leave the BJP came after he was denied a ticket to contest in the upcoming election from the Hubli-Dharwad (Central) constituency, which he had represented in the previous Assembly.

Shettar had held various high-ranking positions in the party, including six-time MLA, former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, ex-Speaker, and party president.

"Despite losing the minister post [in the Basavaraj Bommai government], I worked hard. Just to get a ticket for Mahesh Tenginkai BL Santhosh conspired against me," Shettar said, reported India Today.

Mahesh Tenginkai has been nominated as the candidate to contest from the Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly segment, which was previously represented by Jagadish Shettar.

Meanwhile, the party has given a ticket to a new face named Srivatsa for the Krishnaraja Assembly segment in the Mysuru district, dropping four-time MLA S A Ramadas.

"Look what happened to Ramadas. Just because he is not a BL Santhosh loyalist, they dropped him. Srivasta was given the ticket," Shettar said, according to the report.

Jagadish Shettar criticised BL Santhosh, referring to his performance as BJP in charge of several states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh where the party failed to do well in the assembly elections.

Shettar also stated that Santhosh secure a single seat in Kerala and only a few seats in Tamil Nadu. Shettar claimed that Santhosh was now giving advice to the top leadership of the party despite his past failures.

Karnataka is scheduled to vote on May 10, and the results will be declared on May 13.