The former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was appointed national vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday by party national president Amit Shah, who has reconstituted his team of office-bearers. In all, there are 11 national vice-presidents in the new team, including Mr. Yeddyurappa.
Karnataka has a total of three members in the new team as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader and national joint organising general secretary V. Satish has been continued in the same post, while party State organising general secretary B.L. Santosh, also from the RSS cadre, has been elevated as the national joint organising general secretary.
However, these two posts of the joint organising general secretaries fall in a different category as their appointments are generally decided by the RSS.
The 71-year-old Mr. Yeddyurappa’s entry into the national office-bearers’ team was pending ever since he was not considered for the Union ministerial berth in the wake of a slew of cases related to alleged corruption pending against him.
Though he had publicly expressed his desire to work for the party organisation in the State, the party did not consider it as the post of the State president was not vacant.
Though the post of the party national vice-president is not as high-profile as that of the general secretary’s, it has nevertheless come as a face-saving move for Mr. Yeddyurappa, who has been maintaining a low-profile ever since he rejoined the party in January this year.
Sources said the vice-president’s post was offered to him considering his age as the general secretary’s post is usually given to someone young as it involves a lot of travel.
According to sources, Mr. Yeddyurappa has been assured by the party top leaders that the vice-president’s post is a temporary measure and that he would be considered for a ministerial position if the charges against him are dropped. It is also learnt that the BJP central leadership is trying to use Mr. Yeddyurappa’s elevation to aggressively take on the Congress government in the State as part of its game plan to revive the party’s prospects here.
Mr. Yeddyurappa’s elevation is set to further alter the power equation in the party State unit as there is a feeling that such an elevation may reduce the political influence of Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who earlier held the powerful post of national general secretary.
