BJP expels ‘troublemaker’ MLAs: Who are S T Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar

Here is a look at who the two legislators are:

Somashekar
A three-time MLA from the Yeshwanthpura seat, 66-year-old Somashekar began his political career in the Congress. Previously seen as a close aide of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he unsuccessfully contested his first Assembly polls in 2004 from the Uttarahalli seat.

Post-delimitation, Somashekar contested the Yeshwanthpura seat first in 2008 as a Congress candidate and lost. However, five years later, he won the seat as a Congress candidate and retained it in 2018.

He served as the chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority during the one-year Kumaraswamy regime before switching to the BJP with 13 other MLAs.

Somashekar won the 2019 bypoll and was inducted into the B S Yediyurappa Cabinet and retained his berth in the Basavaraj Bommai Cabinet, where he held the important portfolio of Cooperation.

In 2023, he successfully contested the Yeshwanthpura seat, this time as a BJP candidate and won. However, his relationship with the BJP has been rocky ever since. In the Assembly, Somasekhar has extended support to several Bills brought in by the Congress government which his party has vocally opposed.

During the Rajya Sabha polls in February last year, Somashekar embarrassed the BJP yet again by cross-voting in favour of the Congress, triggering speculations that he was on his way back to the grand old party citing “free flow of funds for his constituency”.

The rumours gained momentum after the Yeshwanthpur MLA was seen on a chartered flight with Deputy CM, D K Shivakumar, with whom he is seen to share a close relationship, leaving political circles abuzz that he could be the Congress’s pick for the North Bangalore Lok Sabha seat. However, he lost out to Rajeev Gowda, who lost the seat to BJP’s Shobha Karandlaje.

The son of a transport business owner, Somashekar has interests in the real estate and transport industry and has declared assets to the tune of Rs 27 crore in his 2023 election affidavit.

Shivaram Hebbar

Hebbar, 68, is a four-time MLA from the Yellapur seat and has served as the Labour Minister in the Yediyurappa and Bommai Cabinets.

Hailing from a humble background, Hebbar is an areca nut farmer and made his debut in public in 1983 after he was elected as a member of the Yellapura Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) following which he joined the Congress.

After the Yellapur seat came into existence following the 2008 delimitation, Hebbar contested his first Assembly polls that year from the seat but lost to V S Patil of the BJP. However, five years later he won his first Assembly elections from the seat and went on to retain it four consecutive times, including in the 2019 bypoll following his disqualification from the Assembly for defecting to the BJP.

Since his election in 2023 as a BJP candidate, Hebbar has had several run-ins with the party. In the February 2024 Rajya Sabha polls, Hebbar abstained from voting stating he was unwell and could not be present in the Assembly to vote. He also campaigned for the Congress candidate in Uttara Kannada during last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

He has declared assets worth Rs 21 crore in his 2023 election affidavit.