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    Dejavu in Karnataka BJP as Yeddyurappa listens only to Karandlaje

    Synopsis

    Yeddyurappa, in his typical sarcastic style, dubbed Eshwarappa “a big man,” categorically refused to make any changes to the appointments already made.

    ET Bureau
    BENGALURU: BJP’s face in Karnataka, state president B S Yeddyurappa, is back to square one, facing anger from his party colleagues over “dictatorial” attitude and his adherence to the wishes of his close aide, Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje.

    Within three months of his appointment as state president, when he said he would take all state leaders along with him, he is accused of reneging on this and listening only to Karandlaje. This was an allegation that haunted him all through the last decade, when he was state president, then chief minister of Karnataka and it was one of the chief factors that pushed him to break away from the BJP and form his own party, the Karnataka Janata Party.

    While about 250 partyworkers met in Bengaluru on Tuesday and expressed their ire to party state general secretaries C T Ravi and Aravind Limbavali as well as Yeddyurappa’s friend-turned-foe K S Eshwarappa, a bunch of about 10 senior state leaders are planning a trip to New Delhi for the same purpose. National leaders are said to have directed Yeddyurappa to address the problems by meeting state leaders on July 2.

    “Even the RSS is angry with the way Yeddyurappa has gone about appointing his own coterie to various posts in the party, without consulting anyone. We are going to meet (party national president) Amit Shah and (national general secretary-organisation) Ram Lal and highlight Yeddyurappa’s behaviour,” a senior leader told ET. They are also accusing Yeddyurappa of directing independents associated with the BJP to support the Congress in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, which is an allegation also made by JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda.

    The immediate trigger for the anger is the appointments to district units and state morchas announced by Yeddyurappa’s office in the last few days, where he and Karandlaje are accused of favouring those who were part of KJP. “Yeddyurappa hasn’t even bothered to look at the lists of office-bearers for districts and various morchas. It is she (Karandlaje) who has taken all the decisions,” another furious senior leader told ET.

    The situation has brought about a sense of deja vu to partyworkers. “It is just this attitude of Yeddyurappa, his endorsement of Karandlaje and dalliance with other parties which destroyed us in 2013. Unless it changes, there is no way we can make Karnataka Congress-mukt,” a worker told ET.

    For the record, the partyworkers meet was clarified as “not dissident” and “with the permission of the state president (Yeddyurappa)” by both general secretaries, Ravi and Limbavali. However, the third general secretary, Karandlaje, was mysteriously absent from this important meet.

    “Views were expressed and will be conveyed to our state president. There is no dissidence,” Ravi insisted. However, Eshwarappa has gone on record that: “There is unhappiness that no one was consulted by Yeddyurappa before appointments were made.”

    Yeddyurappa, in his typical sarcastic style, dubbed Eshwarappa “a big man,” categorically refused to make any changes to the appointments already made. He also defended Karandlaje’s role in the exercise. Karandlaje told ET: “I am doing my job as general secretary on the directions of the state president. I cannot respond to faceless people who accuse me of interfering."


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