Mysuru: Former Minister and MP C.H. Vijayashankar has hinted at quitting the BJP, the party he has been associated with for over two decades. He is likely to return to Congress which he had quit in 1990. If he calls it quits, it will be a blow to the BJP and would strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Siddharamaiah in his home district and even impact on A.H. Vishwanath’s vote bank.

However, getting a wind of his move, some BJP leaders met him at his residence yesterday and tried to convince him to continue in the party. According to sources, Vijayashankar, who is the President of the BJP State Raitha Morcha has conveyed his displeasure to party State Chief B.S. Yeddyurappa. He has distanced himself from party activities for quite some time.

Rumours are also doing rounds that he has been invited by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah to join the Congress where he can fill the void created by the exit of former MP A.H. Vishwanath who joined JD(S).

Vijayashankar, who plunged into politics in 1980, was associated with the Congress party and was its Hunsur taluk youth wing President till 1990. He contested on a BJP ticket from Hunsur Assembly constituency in 1994 and emerged victorious. Later, he represented the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency twice — from 1998 to 1999 and 2004 to 2009. He was MLC from June 2010 to January 2016.

He was the Forest Minister in Yeddyurappa’s Cabinet. His desire to make it to Parliament for a third time was dashed by the surprise candidature of journalist Pratap Simha in the 2014 elections. That year, he was forced to contest from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which he lost to former PM H.D. Deve Gowda.  

Elevated as BJP State Vice- President he had served as a senior Vice-President of BJP and was nominated to the Legislative Council. This fetched him a Cabinet berth (Forest Minister) in Yeddyurappa government. However, he lost his Ministerial position following the resignation of Yeddyurappa.

Vijayashankar is an aspirant for the Assembly ticket from Periyapatna constituency for 2018 elections. He is, however, disappointed by the recent developments. S. Manjunath, an industrialist from Bengaluru, has opened an office at Periyapatna and is already involved in campaigning for the election, under the guise of social work with an army of supporters.

Manjunath has also been made a member of the BJP State Executive Committee and of late, there have been clashes between the supporters of Vijayashankar and Manjunath in Periyapatna.