"The election baton has been passed on from a rabble-rouser Hegde to another Hegde, who is a gentleman." This is the talk within political circles after five-term sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anantkumar Hegde was dropped and the Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha seat ticket was given to former Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri.
The BJP central leadership's decision to deny Hegde the ticket to the constituency he had been representing since 1996 (with a break only from 1999 to 2004 when Congress candidate Margaret Alva defeated him) does not really come as a surprise.
Hegde shot himself in the foot with his unstoppable controversial and rabid statements against minorities as well as the Constitution of India. He remained unaffected – even at times when the BJP distanced itself from his cantankerous outbursts – and was hoping to get the ticket this time too.