JOIN USWith B S Yeddyurappa making no bones about quitting the BJP, the party on Saturday started drawing plans to tide over turbulent waters sans one of its premier leaders.
At the same time, the party made it clear that those who ally with the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), yet to be formally floated by the estranged leader, will face stringent action.
The BJP held a series of meetings on Saturday, attended by Dharmendra Pradhan, national general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, party office bearers, functionaries, ministers and MPs, in a bid to gauge the mood in the party in the wake of Yeddyurappa’s imminent exit.
BJP State president K S Eshwarappa again minced no words as he said those who want to attend the former chief minister’s rally in Haveri on December 9, can do so after quitting the BJP.
Those elected on BJP ticket cannot get involved with another party, Eshwarappa said. “It is as unethical as marrying one person and living with another. If anyone wants to attend the rally, they can do so after dissociating themselves from the BJP.”
Eshwarappa’s rebuttal comes a day after Yeddyurappa warned that the State
government will not survive if action was taken against his supporters.
The day also witnessed several Yeddyurappa supporters urging the party top brass to renew its efforts to retain him. At a meeting attended by 29 of the 34 ministers in the Shettar Cabinet, Basavaraj Bommai and Murgesh Nirani are learnt to have urged Eshwarappa to make one more effort to retain Yeddyurappa in the party.
Ministers Shobha Karandlaje, Renukacharya and B J Puttaswamy, ardent supporters of the former chief minister, did not make to the meeting.
Sources said neither Eshwarappa nor Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar responded positively to their request.
The BJP on Saturday also chalked out a series of programmes to mobilise the electorate ahead of the Assembly elections.
The party has plans to hold conventions in all the 224 Assembly constituencies by November 30. The party also plans to hold booth-level workers’ meetings across the State in December.