Bengaluru:  In a significant political development, BJP has expelled disgruntled party MLAs S.T. Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar for a period of six years.

In an order signed by Om Pathak, Member-Secretary, Central Disciplinary Committee, issued this morning, BJP High Command suspended Somashekar, representing Yeshwanthpur Assembly Constituency in Bengaluru and Hebbar, representing Yellapur in Uttara Kannada District.

“It has accordingly been decided to expel you for a period of six years with immediate effect from primary membership of the party and removed from any party positions for the period as of now,” states the order copy expelling the two MLAs.

Both the MLAs had defected to BJP from Congress in 2019, and were among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who had holed up in Mumbai, before joining the saffron party, leading to toppling of JD(S)-Congress coalition Government headed by CM H. D. Kumaraswamy. This had facilitated the return of BJP Government in the State headed by B.S. Yediyurappa as CM.

Interestingly, both Somashekar and Hebbar were accommodated in Yediyurappa’s Cabinet and Somashekar had even served as the Mysuru District In-charge Minister for three years.

However, even though both had successfully contested on BJP ticket in 2023 Assembly elections, they had maintained a distance from party activities. In March this year, the State BJP Core Committee had recommended the National Unit for their suspension, citing their anti-party activities, during 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Following this, a show cause notice had been issued to both the MLAs.