Two days after Karnataka rebel BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was expelled from the party for six years, the leaders from his faction held a meeting in Bengaluru to express solidarity with the Hindutva hardliner.
Even as the party remains divided over the expulsion, the Yatnal faction reiterated that their fight demanding the replacement of the state BJP chief would continue. On Friday, senior party leaders including Ramesh Jarkiholi, B.P. Harish, Kumar Bangarappa, Pratap Simha, Arvind Limbavali, NR Santosh and GM Siddeshwar held a four-hour-long meeting to discuss the future course of action as the party leadership has conveyed a strong message that indiscipline would not be tolerated.
“We are ready to acknowledge and rectify our mistakes that might have affected the party or hurt party workers. We are all shocked by the party’s decision to expel Yatnal. We suspect it could also be a mistake as the party should have expelled ST Somashekar and not Yatnal for anti-party activities. The BJP cadres and Hindu activists and the Panchamasali Lingayat community are pained by the party’s decision. We will go to Delhi and urge the party to withdraw the expulsion order,” said Kumar Bangarappa.
The rebel faction also alleged that Karnataka BJP had failed to effectively put up a fight against the ruling Congress, which had faltered on many counts.
“Be it honey-trapping cases, SCP/TSP Valmiki corporation scam, Wakf scam or MUDA, none were taken to a logical end by the state BJP and it failed to corner the Congress government," said Kumar Bangarappa.
The leaders were univocal in stating that they would neither quit the BJP nor float a new party but try to convince the Party High Command to revoke the expulsion of Yatnal. “We will work towards strengthening the party to ensure the party wins with a majority in 2028. For this, we need to make drastic changes in the state.
A protest rally was held in Vijayapura to condemn the expulsion of Hindutva leader Yatnal, and more than 100 office bearers of the district unit resigned from their posts in protest. Panchamasali pontiff Basava Mrutyunjaya Swamy condemned the expulsion and demanded revocation of the order. He also said Yatnal would lose nothing but the BJP would certainly suffer a setback in the coming days.
LOPs R Ashok and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy claimed the central leaders were closely watching the development.
“The party high command is gathering information on every development and taking action. However, the party workers or the leaders can still seek a review of the (expulsion) order. But no one should speak against the party. Our intention is to unite the party and tackle the ruling Congress. The party is like a mother and I urge the party workers not to speak ill of the party,” said Ashok.
“Defying the high command decision is like opposing the party. Those who are supporting Yatnal should understand they cannot be with him and in the party. The high command gave enough opportunities to Yatnal to rectify his mistake. He was given three notices and he should have given the reply and focussed on his responsibilities. We all would have supported him. The people bad mouthing the party will be the next wicket to go down,” said Narayaswamy.
