At least five BJP leaders who were seen as party strongman B S Yediyurappa’s ‘loyalists’ have quit in search of opportunities outside.
That Yediyurappa could not convince them to stay back has led to grapevine within the BJP.
And it so happens that these ‘loyalists’ are gearing up to fight BJP leaders who are seen as Yediyurappa’s critics. Senior MLC Ayanur Manjunath wants to contest against former minister K S Eshwarappa in Shimoga city.
Former MLC Mohan Limbikai could be the Congress’ candidate against Arvind Bellad in Hubli-Dharwad (West).
Lingayat leader H D Thammaiah quit the BJP and is in the race to be the Congress’ Chikmagalur candidate against saffron heavyweight C T Ravi.
Eshwarappa, Bellad and Ravi have been critical of Yediyurappa and his son, BJP state vice president B Y Vijayendra.
Other Yediyurappa ‘loyalists’ who have quit the BJP are U B Banakar who is the Congress candidate against Agriculture Minister B C Patil at Hirekerur. Yellapur’s V S Patil also quit the BJP to join Congress and will contest against Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar.
The anti-Yediyurappa camp in BJP has alleged that the former chief minister is not doing enough to stop his ‘close associates’ who quit the party from contesting the May 10 elections.
The pro-Yediyurappa camp, however, defends the action of the ‘rebels’.
‘Just trying to be relevant’
The likes of Banakar, Manjunath, Thammaiah and Patil are trying to stay relevant in politics by contesting the upcoming polls, they argue.
“When it comes to staying relevant in politics, people take such drastic steps over which Yediyurappa can’t have control. The former chief minister alone can’t be blamed for this scenario. If there’s rebellion, it means that the district units failed to accommodate their needs when the party was in power,” a source close to Yediyurappa told DH.
Two senior leaders who have rebelled and are sure of getting Congress tickets told DH that the likes of Banakar and Limbikai stood by Yediyurappa during tough times.
“What did we get after Yediyurappa returned to BJP? We were always seen as outsiders. In our districts, we became ‘untouchables’. After Yediyurappa was sworn in as CM, there were floods and Covid. We couldn’t be accommodated in the Cabinet. We were sure of being denied the tickets, so we’ve chosen our paths to stay relevant,” one of them said.