BJP expels former Karnataka spokesperson M G Mahesh for six years over MLC poll comments

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expelled its former Karnataka spokesperson, M G Mahesh, for six years following his criticism of the party leadership's handling of the recent Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections. The disciplinary action came after Mahesh raised concerns during an internal virtual party meeting on June 19 regarding cross-voting by BJP legislators.

During the June 19 meeting, which took place a day after the MLC elections, Mahesh reportedly blamed the party's state leadership and BJP national general secretary and state in-charge, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, for mismanagement. According to sources, Mahesh accused Agarwal of failing to monitor the election process properly, noting that the party whip was only issued after 23 votes had already been cast.

Mahesh also expressed dissatisfaction that the state leadership failed to attack the ruling government over irregularities. Additionally, he objected to the party's decision to field former Congress leader R Raghu Kautilya for the MLC elections instead of nominating leaders who had been working with the BJP for decades.

The MLC election results highlighted severe internal rifts, revealing that at least six of the 63 BJP MLAs cross-voted in favour of Congress candidates, while another cast an invalid vote.

Following the virtual meeting, the state BJP unit issued a notice to Mahesh on June 22, alleging that he had abused senior party leaders and made derogatory allegations. Mahesh responded to the notice on June 26, but was expelled by the party days later.

Expressing shock at the decision, Mahesh maintained that his comments were made in an internal meeting solely to address ongoing problems within the party. Mahesh, who joined the BJP in 1982 and has been a prominent party worker and RSS ideologue in the Mysuru region, stated that he would continue to follow the party's ideology despite his expulsion.