With two-and-a-half years remaining for the next Assembly elections in Karnataka, fissures have resurfaced in the Puttur city and rural units of the BJP. Hindutva activist Arun Kumar Puthila, the rebel candidate who pushed the saffron party to the third position in Puttur in the last Assembly election in 2023, has hinted that if his supporters wished, there could be a repeat of the 2023 poll in the next Assembly election in the constituency.
After the BJP denied a ticket to Mr. Puthila in the last Assembly election, he contested as an independent candidate paving the way for the victory of Congress candidate Ashok Kumar Rai in Puttur. Mr. Rai polled 66,607 votes (about 39.51% of 1,68,542 total votes polled), Mr. Puthila secured 62,458 (about 37.06%) votes, and Asha Thimmappa of the BJP polled 37,558 (about 22.28%) votes. Mr. Puthila and Ms. Thimmappa together polled 59.34% of the votes.
After parleys between ‘Puthila Pariwar’ (the faction led by Mr. Puthila) and the BJP just ahead of the last Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Puthila merged his faction with the BJP. Yet, there was an uneasy calm in the party circles in Puttur.
Revealing that all is not well in the party, Mr. Puthila went on record in Puttur a week ago (November 24) that if the party merges Puttur city and rural units, he will lead it, and ensure that the BJP wins in the constituency in the next election.
On November 27, the party replaced three ‘mandal’ general secretaries — two of Puttur rural unit and another of Puttur city unit — who were loyal to Mr. Puthila. According to BJP sources, they were inactive.
In addition, sources said, the party replaced another general secretary, the fourth one, in Puttur city unit, who was not a follower of Mr. Puthila, as he was not able to discharge his duties due to personal issues.
They said that following the Lok Sabha election, the party made a loyalist of Mr. Puthila as the vice-president of the district unit and this person is actively involved in the party’s activities.
Sources said that some of those loyal to Mr. Puthila had stayed away from the Atal Virasat programme held in Puttur in November and which was attended by B. Y. Vijayendra, State BJP president. His loyalists did not attended the ‘abhyas varga’ of the party held some time ago.
The BJP opened its account in Puttur in the 1983 Assembly election. Since then, in the last 10 Assembly polls, it won the Puttur seat five times (1994, 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2018) while the Congress bagged the seat four times (in 1985, 1989, 2013 and 2023).
Party functionaries turning rebel is not new in Puttur. Earlier, former BJP MLAs K. Rama Bhat (now no more) and T. Shakuntala Shetty had rebelled against the party.
Ms. Shetty, who won the Puttur seat in 2004 quit the party and contested as an independent candidate from the Swabhimani Vedike in 2008. She lost the election to Mallika Prasad of the BJP.
Mr. Bhat, who had opened the BJP’s account in the 1983 election in Puttur (earlier he won from Janata Party ticket in 1978 election), ‘distanced’ himself from the BJP and spoke against the party after being denied a ticket, which went to Ms. Shetty in the 2008 election.
Mr. Bhat campaigned for Ms. Shetty when she rebelled. Both of them criticised the BJP leadership during the campaign.
Whether Mr. Puthila will continue to work with the BJP will be known during the next local body elections (taluk, zilla panchayats), which are likely to be held before the Assembly elections due in 2028.
Published – December 01, 2025 04:20 pm IST
