History, geography & political science of Yediyurappa-Eshwarappa rivalry

The BJP’s growth story in Karnataka arguably starts from Shivamogga, and the plot is incomplete without B S Yediyurappa and K S Eshwarappa, a friendship that made people call them Lava-Kusha.

Eshwarappa’s ties with Yediyurappa - they even rode a moped together - seem to have soured, particularly over the last decade.

Earlier this month, in an unprecedented move that sent shock waves, Eshwarappa, the Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister, gave Governor Vajubhai R Vala a 5-page letter in which he described Chief Minister Yediyurappa’s “serious lapses, authoritarian way of running the administration and direct interference (with his department)”.

Also read: Won't yield to demand for resignation, portfolio change, says KS Eshwarappa

The 72-year-old newsmaker is not new to controversies in a colourful career of over three decades that even saw him become the deputy chief minister.

Eshwarappa’s loyalists vouch that he’s a simple man who doesn’t mince words.

Being an unapologetic hardliner, Eshwarappa has landed the party in a soup on several occasions. Recently, he publicly justified why Muslims cannot be given BJP tickets. In 2015, he asked a woman journalist, “If you are raped, what can we or anybody do?”

Back in the 1980s, Eshwarappa, Yediyurappa and former Legislative Council chairperson D H Shankaramurthy - they were known as the triumvirate of Shivamogga politics - set up a Torino factory that shut within two years, its fate similar to that of many others when Coca-Cola entered the Indian market.

Eshwarappa contested his first Assembly elections in 1989 from Shivamogga and won big against the then health minister K H Srinivas. In the next 1994 election, the BJP increased its tally from four seats to at least 40. Eshwarappa played a significant role in the saffron surge.

During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the tension was clear. When Yediyurappa, the CM then, fielded his son B Y Raghavendra from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, it strengthened the family’s hold over the district. Eshwarappa is said to have been miffed, publicly criticizing “dynasty politics”.

By 2013, though, when the first independent BJP government’s tenure ended, Eshwarappa was sulking, his relationship with Yediyurappa deteriorating.

Some say that Eshwarappa felt he had not received his due, which might have included a shot at becoming the chief minister.

Also read: Yediyurappa is my leader, says Eshwarappa

Things worsened after Yediyurappa quit the BJP to start the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). In the 2013 Assembly polls, KJP candidate Rudre Gowda contested against Eshwarappa and got more votes than him, adding fuel to the fire.

It was as though the KJP’s sole aim was to see the defeat of Eshwarappa. After all, Eshwarappa was one of the several BJP leaders who ran an anti-Yediyurappa campaign.

In December 2016, Eshwarappa launched Rayanna Brigade, an outfit to mobilize the Ahinda (minorities, backward classes and Dalits) to counter the then Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Eshwarappa belongs to the backward Kuruba community like Siddaramaiah. The Brigade irked Yediyurappa, who was then the BJP state president. The party’s central leadership had to intervene and broker peace.

Those in the know say that the conflict is not rooted in the past, but the future. Eshwarappa is grooming his son Kantesh and Yediyurappa, too, wants to hand over the reins to his sons.

“The rivalry is about the second generation wresting control,” a Congress leader from Shivamogga says. “But, they keep patching up. They need each other. Eshwarappa controls Kuruba votes and is close to the RSS, while Yediyurappa controls the Lingayat votes.”

But has the sun set on the friendship? “People are too quick to judge,” Shankaramurthy says. “They don’t have an understanding of their friendship. It’s only grown stronger over the years.”