JOIN USSadananda, Eshwarappa pull a fast one on Yeddyurappa
Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and the K S Eshwarappa faction in the BJP on Thursday successfully scuttled the show of strength by disgruntled party leader B S Yeddyurappa, ahead of party president Nitin Gadkari’s arrival in Bangalore.
Gowda and Eshwarappa, along with a number of party elected representatives supporting them, made it a point to attend the luncheon meeting hosted by Yeddyurappa.
By doing so, they, in a way, defeated the very purpose of the ‘crucial’ meeting by Yeddyurappa, which forced him to hold one more meeting with his supporters in the evening.
The former chief minister is nurturing the ambition of becoming the chief minister again and is desperately seeking the ouster of Sadananda Gowda.
The Lingayat strongman had extended invitation for the lunch to all party MLAs, MLCs and MPs in the State, irrespective of their loyalty. He was under the impression that those aligning with his rival faction would keep off the meeting. But Gowda and the party State President Eshwarappa surprised Yeddyurappa and his loyalists by promptly attending the meeting.
While Gowda was there for just a few minutes due to his official engagements in Mangalore, Eshwarappa stayed for a long time and had lunch sitting next to Yeddyurappa. Over and above, he ensured that many of Yeddyurappa’s rivals too attend the meeting. As a result, what was planned to be a show of strength meeting by Yeddyurappa, finally turned out to be a party meeting.
Altogether, about 70 party MLAs, comprising both supporters and rivals of Yeddyurappa, attended the lunch.
Shettar leaves it to Delhi
Yeddyurappa’s efforts in enlisting the support of senior leader Jagadish Shettar did not yield the desired result.
Shettar, who had joined hands with Yeddyurappa to take up the cudgels against Gowda, suddenly took a safe stand and said he would stick to whatever decision the party high command takes in this regard.
“Change of leadership is not at all an issue. You (the media) are presuming things. All issues will be discussed in the party forum,” he told reporters. In another setback for Yeddyurappa, a majority of the party leaders from the coastal and the Malnad regions and a group of MLAs led by Balachandra Jarkiholi kept off the meeting.
BSY snubs Rama Jois
With his plans going awry, Yeddyurappa lost his cool at the meeting the moment BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rama Jois advised him not to pursue his personal agenda and, instead, guide the party for its future growth. “What do you know about politics?. What is your understanding of politics in the State? Have you worked in any election? Have you read the Lokayukta report?,” Yeddyurappa is learnt to have asked curtly.
In the same breath, the former chief minister is learnt to have declared that he had built the party brick by brick and he had every right to claim the chief minister’s post. “Make me the chief minister. I will ensure that the party wins 150 seats in the next Assembly elections,” Yeddyurappa said.
Then, RSS leader and MLC P V Krishna Bhat, BJP leaders Eshwarappa, C T Ravi and MLC Narayanasa Bhandage are learnt to have come to Rama Jois’ support. They said, what Jois had said was right and that there was a need to galvanise the party.
Further, C T Ravi is learnt to have hit back at Yeddyurappa loyalist and party MP from Belgaum, Ramesh Katti. The MP reportedly said he and his leaders knew how to refurbish the image of the party and win elections.
“We don’t have to learn from those who joined the party just recently. We have worked for several decades,” Ravi is learnt to have replied.