Letter on BS Yeddyurappa: We are not part of protest, say eight signatories

BENGALURU: Escalating the battle between BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa and his rival faction, led by legislative council opposition leader KS Eshwarappa, eight of the 24 signatories to the internal letter which questioned the former's authoritarian rule have said they were never party to the rebellion.
On Saturday, the party sent out a clarification giving names of the eight signatories who said some miscreants had misused their names.The BJP leaders are Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, Raghunath Rao Malkhapure, Ashwathnarayana, Narayanswamy Bhandage, M S Somalingappa, Chandra Naik Srikanth Kulkarni and Mahesh Tengankai.
M ea nwhile, BJP state office secretary Keshav Prasad, who was allegedly aware of the protest letter and brought it to the notice of Yeddyurappa when it was written in August 2016, has denied knowing anything about it. "No such letter has been received by the state office," Prasad said.
The BJP said the clarification from Prasad became necessary following reports that the letter written by party leaders addressed to the state president was submitted in the office.