JOIN USRayanna Brigade on a steady rise, despite BSY's opposition
Efforts by the Yeddyurappa faction in the BJP to tame Sangolli Rayanna Brigade leader K S Eshwarappa appear to have yielded no result.
Eshwarappa, on Thursday, decided to go ahead with the Brigade’s Tumakuru convention scheduled on October 8. This is despite the Yeddyurappa camp crying foul and directly complaining against him to BJP national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal.
Yeddyurappa had complained that Eshwarappa had been creating confusion among the party workers by organising the Brigade conventions outside the party forum.
The Brigade held its first convention on October 1 at Haveri, which was attended many local BJP leaders. The Brigade is growing in strength steadily as it is roping in all adversaries of Yeddyurappa in the party. Also, those who failed to get party tickets to contest elections have also aligned with Eshwarappa. The Brigade’s Tumakuru convention is being organised by former minister and local BJP leader Sogadu Shivanna. Eshwarappa has the support of many senior leaders, including some in the Sangh, sources said.
The sources said Ramlal held separate meetings with Eshwarappa on Thursday on the issue and urged him to bury the hatchet with Yeddyurappa. Eshwarappa is learnt to have defended his move by describing the Brigade as an initiative to mobilise people belonging to Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) communities, in the interest of the party.
Interestingly, the BJP national general secretary neither warned Eshwarappa nor asked him to stop associating himself with the Brigade. So far not a single senior BJP leader in the state, except Yeddyurappa, has taken exception to Eshwarappa’s move. However, the friction between the two leaders has become a point of debate in the party.
Ramlal had also arranged a breakfast meeting of the party leaders at Yeddyurappa’s Dollars’ Colony residence in order to broker peace between the two leaders. Eshwarappa attend the meeting and had breakfast sitting next to Yeddyurappa. But Eshwarappa stuck to his stand and told Ramlal that his initiative was only aimed at countering Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s efforts to woo the Ahinda communities, the sources said.
The issue also came up for discussion at the state BJP core committee attended by Ramlal, Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa, union ministers from the state and other senior leaders. Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda raised the Brigade issue at the meeting and urged both the leaders to end the confusion at the earliest.
Ramlal is learnt to have advised Eshwarappa to organise Brigade conventions under the party umbrella. But Eshwarappa refused to do so, the sources said.
The sources said that Ramlal told the leaders that the party had bright chances of coming to power in the next Assembly polls. The core committee meeting was convened to discuss measures to strengthen the party at various levels, keeping the Assembly elections in mind.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, BJP MLA Arvind Limbavali said Ramlal had directed the district incharge secretaries to tour their respective districts. The state party has been asked to take steps to strengthen booth and mandal-level committees within three months, he added.