Yatnal has worn his outspokenness and Hindutva credentials on his sleeve, earning him the moniker of 'Hindu tiger'.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: They say that good things come in threes.
In the case of BJP's Basanagouda Ramagouda Patil Yatnal, the hardline Hindutva lawmaker has faced his third expulsion from the party in 15 years.
Even after being slapped with a show-cause notice in February this year, Yatnal, 60, demonstrated his style of functioning by openly berating BJP state president BY Vijayendra and by extension his father, four-time chief minister BS Yediyurappa. He has attacked them for corruption and dynasty politics.
BJP was forced to expel Yatnal twice — in 2010 and 2015 — for ‘anti-party’ activities. His first expulsion, for his sharp criticism of the party’s affairs, took him to the JD(S). Yatnal returned to the BJP in 2013, but he was booted out two years later for contesting as a rebel candidate in the Legislative Council election, which he won. In 2018, Yatnal was re-inducted into the BJP.
In a career that started in 1990 as the BJP’s Vijayapura City vice-president, Yatnal has worn his outspokenness and Hindutva credentials on his sleeve, earning him the moniker of 'Hindu tiger'.
Six months after the 2023 poll drubbing, BJP appointed Vijayendra as the party's Karnataka president, breaking Yatnal's levee.
It’s no secret that Yatnal is something of a ‘firebrand’ who attacked even Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Centre’s delay in providing flood aid to Karnataka in 2019. The party had slapped him with a show-cause notice for the act of indiscipline back then. But it had little impact on him, it seems.
Like Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath, Yatnal came to public attention by being quite the rabble-rouser. From 1994, when he won the Bijapur City seat, to becoming an MP from the area in 1999, and then catching Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s eye, Yatnal’s ascent was quick.
In 2001, Yatnal took on Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who wanted the Centre to stop the Upper Krishna Project. Naidu even threatened to pull out of the NDA. In response, Yatnal threatened to quit as MP, forcing the late HN Ananth Kumar to step in. Yatnal got noticed, and was inducted as a minister in the Vajpayee government in 2002. Apparently, the plan was to groom Yatnal as an alternative Lingayat leader against Yediyurappa.
Outside politics, Yatnal heads Shri Siddeshwar Samsthe, a 122-year-old nonprofit, and a sugar factory.