Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa is firm on continuing the activities of Sangolli Rayanna Brigade. On Monday, he began making preparations for the Brigade’s office-bearers’ meeting scheduled to be held in Raichur on May 8.
Eshwarappa is touring Vijayapura and Raichur districts to meet people associated with the Brigade and chalk out plans for spreading the activities of the Brigade.
When contacted by DH, the BJP leader said, “The Brigade wants to strengthen its base at Assembly segment levels. We will be selecting two toppers from as many as 5,013 junior colleges across the state and felicitate them. We will be giving a cash award of Rs 5,000 to each student. Nearly 10,000 students would be feliciated in June-July.”
Asked why he is going against BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao’s direction to the BJP men in the state not to carry out any activities outside the party forum, Eshwarappa said he has been adhering to the instructions given by the party president Amit Shah.
Rao had said in Bengaluru on Sunday that there is no need for anybody to float any organisation outside the party — call it forum, call it brigade or give any name. This is the instruction from the party leadership, Rao had said.
However, Eshwarappa said, “Shah, on January 27 after holding a meeting with me and Yeddyurappa in New Delhi, had said the Brigade should not hold any political activities. But Shah said he has no objection if I continue my work with the Brigade. His words are being followed. The Brigade is into cultural and educational activities.”
Asked whether Rao, who is in-charge of the party in Karnataka, has not been able to broker a truce between him and Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa said, “Rao seems to be listening to Yeddyurappa and not Shah. As per the instruction of Shah, Rao should have conducted a meeting of the four-member committee constituted by Shah to address the problems in the state unit. The deadline given to him was February 10. But so far not a single meeting has been held. So, who is defying Shah? Why Rao has not applied his mind to solve the problem? Should we not listen to the president?”
On what could be the possible solution to resolve the feud between him and Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa said Shah would have to step in. If the problems remain even after May 10, then the party old-timers would go ahead with their plan of organising a convention on May 20.
To another query, he said that on his own he would not submit any memorandum to the central leadership. But if invited for talks, he would attend.
Published 01 May 2017, 20:06 IST