Davangere BJP dissent quelled, all is well now

A team of BJP leaders comprising parliamentary board member B S Yediyurappa successfully doused the rebellion in the district unit of the party after a three-hour meeting with the leaders here on Tuesday.

Former minister S A Ravindranath, one of the disgruntled ticket aspirants, has been entrusted with the election responsibilities in the
constituency.

Local leaders, including former minister M P Renukacharya, Ravindranath and G Karunakara Reddy, had taken exception to fielding Gayathri Siddeshwara as the party candidate from Davangere. Gayathri is the wife of sitting Lok Sabha member G M Siddeshwara. The rebels had demanded that the nominee should be changed.

Yediyurappa held talks with all leaders who expressed their reservations about the nominee. He also spoke to Siddeshwara.

“It has been decided to face the polls in Davangere under veteran BJP leader Ravindranath. We will all work together and there is no doubt about this,” Yediyurappa told reporters after the meeting.

He also made it clear that those who rebelled against the BJP nominee had not set any condition.

Ravindranath attributed the dissent to “communication gap”.

“We have all spoken to each another and the issues have been resolved. We will work together for the party’s victory,” he said.

Rajya Sabha member and BJP election incharge for Karnataka Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, former ministers B A Basavaraj, Shankar Patil Munenakoppa and others attended the meeting.