Shettar will suffer defeat, his constituency a 'safe' BJP seat: Arun Singh

The BJP cadres will teach former chief minister Jagadish Shettar a "lesson" by ensuring his defeat in the Karnataka elections for "betraying" the party, its senior leader Arun Singh said on Tuesday, rejecting the Congress' charge that the ruling party has insulted Lingayats by denying tickets to senior leaders from the community like him.

Singh, the BJP general secretary in charge of the state, asserted that Hubli-Dharwad Central, the traditional seat of Shettar who is now fighting as a Congress candidate, has been a "safe" seat for the ruling party and will remain so.

"Shettar had been winning from the constituency as it was a BJP seat and not because of any mass base which he never had. BJP cadres are upset with his betrayal of the party and will ensure his defeat. He will be taught a lesson," Singh told PTI.

He noted that BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai, a party general secretary in the state, who is contesting against the six-time MLA is also a Lingayat like Shettar and belongs t