New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled two of its MLAs in Karnataka on May 27 for conducting activities which have been deemed ‘anti-party’. According to BY Vijayendra, the BJP president in Karnataka stated that MLAs ST Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar have been expelled from the party for six years. Vijayendra stated that the decision was taken by the party high command after long deliberations.
ST Somashekhar and Shivaram Hebbar are experienced campaigner in Karnataka politics and they represent the Yeshwanthpur and Yellapur assembly constituencies respectively. Originally, both MLAs were part of the rebel group that defected to the BJP and led to the resultant downfall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2019.
However, according to reports, they were repeatedly seen in the last few months attending Congress-led events and have openly expressed support for the ruling party in Karnataka. The BJP’s Karnataka unit issued a show-cause notice to Hebbar on March 25 and that it had considered his response on the “repeated violations of party discipline”.
The party’s notice on the expulsion read, “It has accordingly been decided to expel you for a period of six years with immediate effect from the primary membership of the party and you stand removed from any party position that you hold as of now.”
