BJP cracks whip, shows door to 4 office-bearers

The BJP central leadership cracked the whip on the two warring factions of the state unit by sacking four party vice presidents on Sunday.

Those sacked are MLC M B Bhanuprakash and former MLA Nirmal Kumar Surana  (K S Eshwarappa camp), and Raitha Morcha vice president M P Renukacharya and BJP spokesperson G Madhusudhan (B S Yeddyurappa camp).

Now, the rivals want direct intervention of senior leaders like BJP national president Amit Shah to resolve the crisis.

Bhanuprakash and Surana, for their part, claim to be old-timers who are trying to save the party. 

The sacking orders were initiated by P Muralidhar Rao, BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge, late on Saturday night, said N Ravi Kumar, state party general secretary. The central leaders are of the view that the sacking would discipline the cadre and also defuse the tension between the two camps.

However, there is still no sign of rapprochement between BJP state president Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa, leader of the Opposition in the legislative council.

The leaders did not even meet Rao, who was camping at the party office in Malleswaram.
Rao left in the evening after interacting with a host of second-line leaders.

While Yeddyurappa was in his home district Shivamogga, Eshwarappa attended a housewarming ceremony in Tumakuru town in the afternoon and returned to Shivamogga.

Both of them issued statements to the media to explain their viewpoints.  Eshwarappa said the party national president has given him permission to be associated with the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade and hence, he would continue to attend its meetings.

“All we are asking is a meeting of the committee which has been constituted as per (BJP president) Amit Shah’s direction. We are confident that Shah will find a solution. The problem has to be resolved at a higher level. Beyond this, I do not want to comment at this point,” Eshwarappa told DH.

Saturday’s developments
On Saturday, Rao had sought details about the ongoing feud between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa.
Some functionaries close to Yeddyurappa said Eshwarappa’s tirades were casting a shadow on the party’s prospects in the Assembly elections next year.

Others endorsed Eshwarappa’s view that Yeddyurappa was taking unilateral decisions. Rao sought their views on Yeddyurappa’s charge that BJP national joint general secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh was masterminding the rift.

I repeat that there is no need for anybody to float any organisation outside the party — call it forum, call it brigade or give it any name. This is the instruction from the party’s central leadership
P Muralidhar Rao, BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge


Gag order
P Muralidhar Rao has instructed partymen not to issue any statements about the developments. Text messages were apparently sent to party functionaries in this regard. Senior leaders will find a solution to the issues being confronted by the party, Rao said.