More articles by

Prathima Nandakumar
Prathima Nandakumar

POLITICS

Bypolls debacle dampens BJP's prospects in Karnataka

PTI4_29_2017_000056b Prime Minister Narendra Nodi paying tributes to the statue of Kannada philosopher Basaveshwar during the golden jubilee celebrations of Basava Samithi in New Delhi. Union minister Ananth Kumar, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and other dignitaries are also seen | PTI

BJP's defeat in Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls calls into question Yeddyurarappa's ability to lead the party

The 'Mission-150' seemed a great possibility for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka until recently, but the two bypolls in Nanjangud and Gundlupet, swept by the ruling Congress, changed it all.

The 'Save BJP organisation' rally held recently by leader of opposition in council K.S. Eshwarappa has exposed the unrest brewing within the state BJP under former chief minister and state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa.

To make matters worse for Yeddyurarappa, the bypoll defeat (in Lingayat dominant constituencies) has reignited dissidence, calling his ability to lead the party to power in the coming polls into question.  While senior leaders boycotted an introspection meet convened by Yeddyurappa, the overwhelming support to the 'Save BJP' rally has caused a huge embarrassment to him, and also demoralised the party workers, who fear a repeat of 2013 when infighting had thrown the party out of power. 

"Senior leadership as well as the people are watching everything. The rebel leaders will be given an appropriate answer," warned Yeddyurappa before rushing to Delhi on Friday. On Saturday, senior leadership failed to give an audience to Yeddurappa, indicating that the central leadership is looking at an amicable solution and not a flare-up of emotions in a crucial election year.

While Yedyurappa suspects that the success of 'Save BJP' campaign was due to the backing of RSS strongman and BJP's national joint organising secretary B.L. Santosh, many in the BJP believe it was Santosh who held the party together in 2013, when it was breaking into splinter groups like Karnataka Janata Paksha(led by Yeddyurappa) and BSR Congress (led by B. Sriramulu). 

Shaken by the huge turn out at the rally, Yeddyurappa accused Eshwarappa of defying the senior leadership by calling for such meetings, and alleged that Santosh was the mastermind behind the revolt. 

Eshwarappa hit back saying that people who had quit the party were now warning him of stern action.  "We will continue to be with the BJP as we will neither form or join any other party, " he taunted Yeddyurappa, in an apparent reference to the formation of KJP which managed to bag only a handful seats in the last Assembly polls.  

Earlier, Eshwarappa, a Kuruba leader from Shimoga, floated the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade to consolidate the backward classes and Dalit votes  in the hope of replicating the success of Lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Ahinda formula. Both Yeddyurappa and Siddharamaiah, who were catapulted to the CM's post, had eventually become indispensable to their respective parties. 

Kuruba being the third largest community after Lingayat and Vokkaliga, Eshwarappa is banking on the numbers and the anti-incumbency against the ruling Congress and the Siddaramaiah government to emerge stronger within his party.   

While Yeddyurappa's spats with Eshwarappa were never a secret, the former had succeeded in convincing BJP national president Amit Shah to advise Eshwarappa not to promote divisive brigades but to hold programmes under the party banner.  

However, the bitterness between the two factions, the party leaders and workers now fear, will result in central leadership taking control over the state unit.  

The widening rift, where factions are openly opposing or endorsing state leadership, might compel the BJP to remain out of power for a longer time. But Yeddyurappa's "style of functioning and dictatorial tendencies", as Eshwarappa puts it,  might just be BJP's beginning of the end. 

Many others pointed out that the bypoll debacle was because the BJP failed to cash in on the Modi wave. They also alleged that Yeddyurappa believed in "individual centric" politics and so failed in the polls. 

Meanwhile, the central leadership of the party is having a greater say in choosing candidates in the state, so a parachute or a surprise CM candidate cannot be ruled out too, hint sources. 

Yeddyurappa, too, fears that a core committee headed by central leaders would upset his equation with his followers and as a result his control over the party too. 

Emboldened by the rift between Yeddyurappa and Santosh,  Eshwarappa is hoping to energise his efforts to emerge as a tall leader in the party, which is facing dearth of mass leaders. It was due to the absence of a strong face that the  BJP was forced to project Yeddyurappa as the chief ministerial candidate, despite the several corruption charges during his rule and the official cut-off age being 75 in the BJP for holding constitutional posts.  

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Topics : #Karnataka | #BJP

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