Eshwarappa loyalists will meet today to mount pressure on BSY

The fight between state BJP President B S Yeddyurappa and senior leader K S Eshwarappa is coming out in the open.

On Thursday, many party leaders aligned with Eshwarappa, under the banner ‘Save Party Organisation’ will meet and discuss how to ensure Yeddyurappa runs the party without taking “unilateral” decisions.

The convention, to be held at Palace Grounds in Benglauru from 11.30 am, will be organised by a group led by BJP MLC and vice president M B Bhanuprakash. Another vice president who is actively involved is Nirmal Kumar Surana. MLCs Raghunath Rao Malkapure and Somanna Bevinamarad among others are expected to attend the convention.

Eshwarappa has confirmed that he would attend the session to discuss problems confronted by the party. “The convention is being held to strengthen the party. I will be failing in my duty if I stay away from the event,” Eshwarappa said.

Hundreds of old-timers of the party, who are unhappy for various reasons, including the style of functioning of Yeddyurappa, are expected to attend. Some of those who are actively building the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade have also identified with the Save Party Organisation. However, Eshwarappa insisted that the Brigade has nothing to do with the BJP.

Bhanuprakash, who, like Yeddyurappa hails from Shivamogga, said the convention is being held in the interest of the party. “Party president B S Yeddyurappa has been taking unilateral decisions. We have been stating that party loyalists are ignored during appointment of office-bearers and district presidents. The morale of the party workers is very low. We will address all these issues tomorrow,” Bhanupraskash said. Surana said problems are aggravating because Yeddyurappa is taking decisions according to his whims. “If the present situation continues, the party’s future will be affected in the 2018 elections. If we do not work collectively, there is no future for the party.”

In January, Bhanuprakash and 23 other party functionaries had written an open letter to Yeddyurappa stating that he should take everybody into confidence before taking decisions. However, nothing has changed, he said. A panel suggested by BJP president Amit Shah comprising Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa and two RSS functionaries — Santosh and Arun Kumar —  was asked to address all internal issues. However, no meeting has been convened so far, he added.