Sudden turn of events in BJP leaves workers shocked

The turn of events in the BJP, in announcing the candidate for Varuna Assembly constituency, has surprised the party workers.

According to a BJP leader, the candidature of Varuna did not figure in the lists released up to Monday afternoon in an effort to steer clear of the blames that the BJP is indulged in family or hereditary politics and that the party has formed a secret alliance with the JD(S) in certain constituencies like Varuna and Chamundeshwari.

When the third list of the BJP was announced on Friday, there was no mention of the Varuna constituency, for which BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra was projected as a candidate, raising eyebrows in the political circles. In the fourth list, released on Monday, also, there was no mention of Varuna. Meanwhile, in a party meeting on Monday at Nanjangud. Yeddyurappa announced that Vijayendra would not be a candidate, giving rise to protests by supporters.

A Zilla Panchayat member under Varuna constituency said, it might be a conspiracy of the state BJP leaders, who are close to the national leaders, to avenge Yeddyurappa, who has become inevitable for the party, despite his age factor. “Involvement of the RSS leaders cannot be ruled out in this episode,” he said.

A party leader, close to Vijayendra, said, “Vijayendra has been touring the villages since three weeks and people have accepted him as their leader. They can see the change, compared to Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yathindra. He even rented a house in Varuna to come closer to the people. Let us see.”

A Congress leader claimed that a few leaders in the BJP, who have maintained close relationship with Siddaramaiah, have engineered the change in view of facilitating the victory of Dr Yathindra.

However, a BJP leader claimed that the party high command would be forced to issue ticket to Vijayendra, as the party workers are in his favour.