RSS makes first move to woo Yeddyurappa back to BJP

The RSS is learnt to have opened a channel of communication with the KJP chief B S Yeddyurappa to explore the possibility of bringing him and his followers back to the party fold.

Sources privy to the development said a top RSS functionary met Yeddyurappa in Bangalore last week and held discussions with him for more than a hour. The entry of the RSS into the picture comes at a time when the BJP is divided over whether efforts should be strengthened to woo back Yeddyurappa ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The RSS is keen to get a pulse of what is going on in Yeddyurappa’s mind, sources said. The reported meeting between Yeddyurappa and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and its political fallout is another reason for the RSS’ intervention.
Yeddyurappa, while in the BJP, had antagonised many RSS leaders.

Several BJP leaders including Umesh Katti, Basavaraj Bommai, V Somanna, Prabhakar Kore, G Madhusudhan have been asserting in party forums that Yeddyurappa’ re-entry would once again revitalise the party. The BJP had lost more than 25 seats in the Assembly polls due to the presence of KJP candidates and division of its traditional votes. Yeddyurappa held command over a significant number of Assembly constituencies and there was no denying it, they have asserted. They fear that the KJP could again eat into the votes of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, damaging its prospects badly.

Opposition in BJP

At the same time, the camp comprising H N Ananth Kumar, D V Sadanada Gowda, party president Pralhad Joshi is against any move to bring back Yeddyurappa. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar is understood to have taken a neutral stand. Former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa has gone on record several times that the party had been “cleansed” after the exit of Yeddyurappa.

However, Yeddyurappa is said to be playing his cards close to his chest. Sources said the former chief minister does not want to take a decision on coming back to the BJP at this point, with the CBI cases still pending against him and, lest he antagonise the Congress high command.

He is expected to give a positive response to the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, if there are indications that the NDA could come to power at the Centre.

The Yeddyurappa issue also came up for discussion at the party’s core-committee held here on Monday evening, sources said.