'Bring back Yeddyurappa' shrill gets louder in BJP

A section of BJP leaders will soon call on party central leaders in New Delhi seeking to create a platform to bring former chief minister and KJP leader B S Yeddyurappa back to the party fold.

The initiative is being collectively taken up by Member of Parliament D B Chandre Gowda, former Speaker K G Bopaiah, former minister Arvind Limbavali, party MLC G Madhusudhan among others. These leaders met at Gowda’s residence in Bangalore on Thursday night.
Others who attended the meeting include D V Sadananda Gowda, Basavaraj Bommai, Umesh Katti, Janardhana Swamy and C N Ashwantharanayan.

Meeting soon

The meeting with the central leadership could happen as early as next month, sources said. The delegation is likely to call on party president Rajnath Singh, senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley among others. They are planning to hold one more round of meeting in Bangalore to finalise their plan of action.

The woo-Yeddyurappa campaign in the BJP, which has been on for sometime now, gathered steam after the KJP sent feelers that it was open for an electoral alliance with BJP if the newly appointed campaign committee chairman Narendra Modi mediates.

This group, comprising mostly die-hard party loyalists, is of the opinion that the return of Yeddyurappa and subsequent merger of the KJP with the BJP would boost the party’s prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The KJP had managed to secure 10 per cent of the votes in the Assembly polls within six months after being launched eating into the BJP vote share, they point out.

Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a civic facility near South-End Circle, party national general secretary and Yeddyurappa’s bete noire Ananth Kumar said the BJP has kept all options open to make the country ‘Congress-free.’

This statement is being interpreted in some circles that the five-time MP is not averse to a BJP-KJP tie-up ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Political observers say, Ananth Kumar, who represents Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, is also looking at his electoral prospects ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Bangalore South has a significant number of Lingayat voters and the support of Yeddyurappa could help him in the polls.

Ready to meet Modi

Chandre Gowda, while confirming the meeting, said he is ready to meet Modi to bring a rapprochement between Yeddyurappa and the BJP.

He also said that he is ready to face action in case the BJP thinks that he has violated the norms by holding the meeting.

Yeddyurappa is undergoing  treatment at a nature care institute in Dharmasthala.