Bengaluru, 9 March

Expelled BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Monday ruled out re-joining the saffron party as long as what he termed a “corrupt family” continues to lead the party in Karnataka.

He also announced that his yet-to-be-launched JCB party will come to power in the State, and he will be the next Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, the Vijayapura MLA said he had not come to meet BJP leaders and dismissed speculation that he was lobbying to return to the party.

"I am not the kind of person who goes to someone’s house pleading to be taken into the BJP. Don’t run such stories tomorrow unnecessarily. I do not need to go there and fall at someone’s feet," Yatnal said. He said his visit to the capital was purely personal.

Responding to a question on whether he would return to the BJP, Yatnal said he would not accept the leadership of what he described as a ‘corrupt family’ in the party’s Karnataka unit.

"We will not accept the leadership of this corrupt family. As long as that corrupt family remains in the BJP’s leadership in Karnataka, the question of joining the BJP does not arise," he said.