Dhananjay is KJP president
In a first step towards the formal launch of B S Yeddyurappa’s new political outfit, former Union Minister V Dhananjay Kumar, a close associate of the former chief minister, was installed as the president of Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) on Friday.
At the General Council meeting of the KJP in Bangalore, incumbent president of the party Padmanabha Prasanna Kumar resigned from the post to pave the way for Dhananjay Kumar.
Yeddyurappa will take over as the president of the KJP from Dhananjay Kumar at the party rally in Haveri on December 9.
Soon after taking charge, Kumar announced former leader of the opposition in the Council K H Srinivas as party vice-president. MLC M D Lakshminarayana, another close aide of Yeddyurappa, has been made party general secretary. In all, 11 office-bearers were appointed on Friday.
Yeddyurappa’s personal assistant Siddalingaswamy has been made party secretary. Prasanna Kumar has also been appointed vice-president of the party. Dhananjay Kumar charged that national parties were not responding properly to the problems of the State.
For instance, both the Congress and the BJP had failed to protect the interest of the State during the Cauvery river water dispute with Tamil Nadu, he alleged. The party will launch its membership drive on Saturday and plans to contest in all the Assembly constituencies in the State in the coming elections.
Kumar said the party will intimate the Election Commission of India about the new list of office- bearers and also apply for a symbol soon. The party is keen on having either cycle, rising sun or farmer with a plough as its symbol, he added.
Lakshminarayana said he had disassociated himself from the BJP soon after he was told that he would be nominated to the Legislative Council. “I was nominated to the Council as an independent member and law does not bar me from joining the KJP and continue as MLC,” he contended.
