It pays to sulk, ask BS Yeddyurappa how

BANGALORE: Former Karnataka CM was unhappy at being kept out of Union cabinet. The announcement of his appointment as BJP national vice president has come as a shot in the arm for BS Yeddyurappa, who has been sulking after Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept him out of the Union cabinet. The new responsibility is an open endorsement by the Modi-Amit Shah combine that the 73-year-old Shimoga MP mattered a lot to the party.
"Yeddyurappa is a known organisation builder, and his appointment is only a reward by the party for respecting its wish, and returning before the Lok Sabha elections. It also shows the importance he commands from the party bosses," said Sandeep Shastri, political analyst, and pro vice chancellor at Jain University, Bangalore. "Beyond any doubt, Yeddyurappa is BJP's strongman in Karnataka, and will lead whatever political campaign that will happen in the state," he added. The new position may not mean much for the former Karnataka chief minister in the immediate future.

A state BJP leader said the VP post looked more like a stop-gap arrangement for him. "When state BJP president Prahlad Joshi's term ends next year, Yeddyurappa will obviously stake claim, and is unlikely to face any challenge because the state would anyway has to face the assembly polls under his leadership," the person said. "Before that if Yeddyurappa is able to come clear of the corruption cases, the prime minister is mostly likely to consider him for a Cabinet berth." Yeddyurappa, who is busy campaigning for his son B Y Raghavendra for the August 21 bypolls for the Shikaripur assembly seat, was kept out of the union cabinet in view of the CBI cases against him. Political watchers in Delhi say the BJP would have considered Yeddyurappa for a more active general secretary's role if he were younger by a few years and could speak Hindi fluently.

Nevertheless, he is expected to play his part in southern parts of Maharashtra in the ensuing Assembly polls as the region has a significant chunk of Kannadiga, especially Lingayat, votes, the community to which he belongs.

According to Shastri, Karnataka is the only state in the south where the BJP has done reasonably well in the past 10-15 years, and since Ananthkumar has already moved to the Centre as chem icals minister, as someone equally powerful, Yeddyurappa was the obvious choice to represent the state at the national level. The Lingayat leader had headed Karnataka BJP as far back as in 1988 and built the party cadre since then along with K S Eshwarappa and Ananthkumar.

Harish Ramaswamy, political science professor at Karnatak University in Dharwad, said the VP's post would still confine Yeddyurappa to Karnataka politics because his campaigning style was that of the old school and traditional. "It just cannot match with the ways of Amit Shah. So the post will only remain ceremonial for Yed dyurappa," he said.

Ramaswamy, however, said his return to the BJP did wonders for the party in the Lok Sabha polls. "In the HyderabadKarnatak region, the BJP did well only because of the Yeddyurappa factor. The PM and the party are likely keep in mind the importance of Lingayat votes for the BJP doing well in Karnataka," he said.