Politics
Senior BJP Leaders In Karnataka Unhappy With Yeddyurappa’s Party Revamp
- After assuming party chief’s post, Yeddyurappa reconfigured district BJP units and made fresh appointments
- These appointments were not welcomed by veteran BJP leaders, who accused him of bringing back his former KJP members into district BJP units
- The leaders have now decided to meet the man in charge of the party in Karnataka and National General Secretary, P Muralidhar Rao, to discuss the issue
Image Credit: RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the best chance of coming back to power and causing maximum damage to Congress in Karnataka. But, the saffron party is out to bleed itself to defeat with self-inflicted wounds even before the battle cry is raised.
Former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa was recently made President of the BJP’s state unit. He is an old-hand of the party and also its chief wrecker in the previous assembly election. After his comeback to the party, and after assuming the office of the President, Yeddyurappa has already started upsetting many party leaders.
Notwithstanding his promise to conduct a survey about six months before the assembly elections and gather public opinion about the candidates and their selection, very few would actually believe Yeddyurappa because of the manner in which he has recently revamped his party.
Yeddyurappa was responsible for the formation of the first BJP government in South India. But then, he was forced to resign as Chief Minister in 2011 over graft charges, following which he quit the party to form the KJP. But he returned to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Last two years have been a dormant phase for him after getting elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) from Shivamogga; yet his appointment as Karnataka unit chief, coupled with Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s troubled phase, has given him a new vigour.
Senior party leader KS Eshwarappa, who is Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, criticised Yeddyurappa’s “unilateral” decisions in appointing office bearers and presidents of district units.
Eshwarappa comes from Yeddyurappa’s hometown, Shivamogga, and the new chief of the Shivamogga unit of BJP had stood against him as the KJP candidate in the state elections.
Eshwarappa recently held a meeting of leaders from various districts after Yeddyurappa’s revamp process. The meeting expressed concern regarding the “high-handedness” of Yeddyurappa’s loyalists and on the prominence given to those who were in his erstwhile outfit KJP.
In the same report, BJP leader CT Ravi, who attended the meeting, said:
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