Member of the Legislative Council M D Lakshminarayana, who recently joined the Congress from the now-defunct Karnataka Janata Party of B S Yeddyurappa, has said that the former chief minister would not have quit the Bharatiya Janata Party or rejoined it, but for the latter’s close associate Shobha Karandlaje’s prodding.

Lakshminarayana, whose desperate attempts to rejoin the saffron party failed after his mentor Yeddyurappa “ditched him,” had been with the BJP ever since its formation in the 1980s.

The nominated MLC had helped the KJP in conducting its mega conventions.
When contacted by Deccan Herald, he said Yeddyurappa could only help himself, Karandlaje and C M Udasi in getting a BJP ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

“People such as me, Dhananjay Kumar, Lehar Singh, Rajendra Gokhale, Vijay Sankeshwar, Sunil Vallyapure, Chandrappa, Vittala Katakadonda and others were left high and dry by Yeddyurappa. He had gone against the wishes of the 43 BJP MLAs and floated the KJP because of Karandlaje,” he claimed.

Replying to a question, he said that while Yeddyurappa was in the KJP, he had held talks with the Congress leaders in Delhi and leaders of the Samajwadi Party. He had even met H D Deve Gowda.

“He had explored the possibility of joining any of these parties. Injustice was done to those who trusted him to build their political career. Sangh organiser Santosh said he had no objection to anyone returning to the BJP along with Yeddyurappa. But Yeddyurappa asked us to meet Rajnath Singh,” he pointed out.