BENGALURU: Former minister V Somanna has denied reports of him joining Congress. However, the senior BJP MLC did not mince words on Friday while expressing his anger at the style of functioning of party state president B S Yeddyurappa.
BJP’s national leadership went into damage-control mode on Friday following reports of Somanna’s overtures towards Congress. Senior BJP leaders R Ashok and C T Ravi met Somanna on Friday and held talks to dissuade him from looking beyond BJP.
Somanna, who is nursing an ambition to emerge as a Lingayat leader in his own right, earned the wrath of Yeddyurappa after he stayed back in BJP when Yeddyurappa formed the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Somanna is said to be feeling neglected in the party since Yeddyurappa returned to BJP and became the state president.
Yeddyurappa had opposed Somanna’s nomination to the Legislative Council for a second term last year but Somanna succeeded in getting renominated to the Upper House only after the party national leadership intervened.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Ashok and C T Ravi, Somanna said, “BJP has given me everything. So there is no question of quitting the party. I have not received an invitation from anyone to join the Congress. I have not spoken to any one on joining Congress.”
‘We want old Yeddyurappa, not the present one’
Somanna was candid in conveying his displeasure over Yeddyurappa’s style of functioning. “Yeddyurappa should stop acting at the behest of the coterie around him. We want the old Yeddyurappa, not the present one. There is no doubt that he is the supreme leader. But he should take everyone along as a leader,” Somanna said.
Expressing concern over the tussle between Yeddyurappa and K S Eshwarappa within the party, Somanna urged the two leaders to end their feud.
Somanna said that he was hurt by Yeddyurappa neglecting him and recalled that he is a man of self respect who had won an assembly election in the past as an Independent without the support of any party.