Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
—W.B. Yeats
EVEN A CENTURY after Yeats penned his famous lines, it still holds true in politics. The ruling BJP in Karnataka is once again witnessing anarchy after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa recently inducted seven ministers to his cabinet. The expansion was expected to energise the government, which was bogged down by dissent, corruption charges, floods, drought and the Covid-19 pandemic. But the move has brought the simmering dissent in the party to a boil.
Legislators who failed to make it to the cabinet said Yediyurappa picked “blackmailers” and the “corrupt”. At least 20 MLAs have protested the chief minister’s “unusual” decision to induct five MLCs (members of the legislative council). Three of the new ministers were made MLCs after they lost the assembly elections.
The divisions within the party run deep. The mass migration of rebel MLAs from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), which led to the collapse of their coalition government in July 2019, has created deep fissures within the BJP. But what has rattled party cadres and leaders alike is the vitriolic attack against Yediyurappa by Vijayapura MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal and party hopper MLC A.H. Vishwanath. They said an objectionable CD of Yediyurappa was being used to blackmail him.
“Earlier, the BJP had quotas for loyalists, for castes and districts and for people who helped install its government. But Yediyurappa has come up with a new quota for those who blackmail him with CDs and for those who bribe his son, Vijayendra,” said Yatnal. “I am shocked to see that people who met me at a guest house in Nelamangala four months ago (saying they wanted) to pull down Yediyurappa have been made ministers. Had I joined them in blackmailing the CM with a CD, I could have become deputy chief minister.”
It is not the first time that a CD is causing a flutter in Karnataka politics. A few months ago, Yediyurappa’s grandnephew N.R. Santhosh, who is also his political secretary, had allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills. State Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar said the attempt was connected to a “leaked video” of Yediyurappa. “The CD has reached the BJP high command. This appears to be a case of blackmailing and needs to be probed,” he said. Yatnal called the CD “unwatchable” and dared the Congress to make it public, like a responsible opposition party. “Congress leaders, too, have been getting more funds, and I suspect Yediyurappa has bought them,” said Yatnal.
Opposition leader Siddaramaiah challenged Yediyurappa to sue the blackmailers, while Shivakumar demanded a probe by a sitting High Court judge. “The BJP is now officially the Blackmailers Janata Party, as its own MLAs and leaders allege that the chief minister is being blackmailed and is being paid bribes,” Shivakumar said. “The Enforcement Directorate and the income tax department must suo motu register cases.”
Siddaramaiah also demanded a probe into Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi’s claim that newly-inducted minister C.P. Yogeshwar had borrowed 09 crore from M.T.B. Nagaraj to help the BJP form the government in 2019. Nagaraj, perhaps the richest legislator in Karnataka, had made it to the cabinet via the legislative council route. “This is an admission that the BJP resorted to Operation Kamala to topple the coalition government,” said Siddaramaiah.
Yediyurappa’s critics said the chief minister made a big mistake by inducting five MLCs into the cabinet despite the BJP having 104 MLAs in the 224-member assembly. They said Yediyurappa went against the BJP tradition by making defeated leaders like Vishwanath, Laxman Savadi, Nagaraj, Yogeshwar and R. Shankar MLCs. All of them except Vishwanath are now ministers.
The regional divide, too, is glaring. Of the 31 districts in the state, only 16 are represented in the cabinet—Bengaluru got eight berths and Belagavi five. There are two ministers from Yediyurappa’s home district, Shivamogga.
“The high command had not agreed to induct all 12 party hoppers and suggested that only six to eight should be accommodated. But Yediyurappa was adamant,” said a party insider. “Even during the appointments to boards and corporations, he did not consult anyone. Party workers who toiled hard have been ignored. Moreover, the chief minister should not have publicly announced the cabinet expansion before getting the nod from Delhi. Now, legislators are making public statements against the CM and about the change of leadership. This is setting a wrong precedent in the party.”
Yogeshwar’s elevation, for instance, has met with stiff resistance from many legislators. Vishwanath said Yediyurappa had become Yogeshwar’s puppet. “Why are you accommodating a fraud like Yogeshwar? The cabinet is dominated by Lingayats and Vokkaligas,” he said. “Is this your concern for social justice? The Yediyur Siddalingeshwara (deity) will not forgive you.”
Former minister S.A. Ramdas, who represents Krishnaraja in the assembly, tweeted to hint that a few people had entered the cabinet through wrongful means. Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy said Yediyurappa was ignoring party loyalists. “I have been part of the BJP since 1993. Today, I am feeling the void left behind by my mentor, the late Ananth Kumar,” said Ramdas. “I would like to ask Yediyurappa what is the yardstick to become a minister in his cabinet?” Chitradurga MLA G.H. Thippareddy, too, slammed the chief minister for inducting Yogeshwar. “I feel like I have wasted 50 years of my political career,” he said.
The latest reshuffle has also upset the caste equilibrium in the cabinet. Lingayats have the highest representation with 11 ministers, Vokkaligas have seven, Kurubas and Scheduled Castes have four each, Brahmins and Scheduled Tribes two each, and Billavas, Marathas and Rajputs have one minister each.
Yatnal, who is also a Lingayat, said Yediyurappa was “arm twisting” the central leadership by claiming the complete support of the politically significant Lingayat community. Lingayat leaders across the parties have been trying to dislodge Yediyurappa as the tallest leader of the community. Congress veteran M.B. Patil spearheaded such a movement ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, but it backfired. BJP leaders Murugesh Nirani and Yatnal have been backing the demand for including Panchamasalis (a Lingayat subsect) in the 2A category of backward classes, hoping that it will help them emerge as new leaders of the community. Yatnal said the Yediyurappa family had hijacked the BJP and the entire Lingayat community was forced to hang its head in shame because of the family’s corruption. “Yediyurappa must step down immediately,” he said.
This is not the first time Yatnal is targeting Yediyurappa. In October he said the BJP’s central leadership was “fed up” with Yediyurappa, and that he would not last long in the CM’s post. He even claimed that a Lingayat leader from north Karnataka would become chief minister.
Siddaramaiah called out the BJP on family politics and said there were two chief ministers in the state, a de jure CM and a de facto CM. “The real power is in the hands of Yediyurappa’s son,” he said.
Yediyurappa, however, remains unfazed. He asked the aggrieved legislators to “approach” the party leadership instead of making public statements. And, he has found support from unlikely quarters. Rural Development Minister K.S. Eshwarappa—a Kuruba leader from Shivamogga who is engaged in a silent power tussle with Yediyurappa—told the dissidents that the BJP had a forum to express grievances and that going public only dented the party’s image. Vijayapura MP Ramesh Jigajinagi, too, asked his colleagues to resolve their differences within the party. “I had warned Yediyurappa against inducting Yatnal into the party. He did not listen to my words,” he said.
The central leadership of the BJP has been uncharacteristically silent on the issue, something intriguing and unusual for a party which claims to have a zero tolerance towards indiscipline. Some party insiders, however, suspect that Yatnal’s frequent outbursts are part of a strategy to cut Yediyurappa down to size. But the central leadership is careful not to antagonise Yediyurappa and the Lingayat community. The last time it happened, the BJP suffered a major electoral reversal in Karnataka.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Karnataka on January 16 and 17, praised Yediyurappa for his successful handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has quietened the voices of dissent for now. But Shah’s message on the chief minister’s future was cryptic. He said the BJP government in Karnataka would complete its full term. But he did not specify how long Yediyurappa will remain at the helm.