KSE snubs Yeddyurappa, defends OBC-Dalit meet

The face-off between two key BJP leaders, state president B S Yeddyurappa and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa, intensified on Wednesday.

Eshwarappa has vowed to go ahead with registering Sangolli Rayanna Brigade, an organisation of OBCs and Dalits, and hold its convention at Haveri on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters here, he defended the brigade, saying it would counter the Ahinda movement of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and help the BJP. Ahinda is a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits.

Eshwarappa insisted that the brigade’s Haveri convention was aimed at strengthening the BJP. “There is nothing wrong in organising such a convention that would prove beneficial to the party. BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao also endorsed the convention at the party’s core committee meeting in Bengaluru on August 16. Some retired IPS and IAS officers are hesitant to take part in conventions organised by the party’s different wings. So, a separate convention is necessary to garner the support of backward classes and Dalits,” he said.

Asked about Yeddyurappa’s instruction to BJP workers to not take part in the convention, Eshwarappa claimed ignorance but hastened to add, “I will shortly talk to him.”

Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa reiterated that any initiative to strengthen the BJP should be within the party forum and a decision to that effect was taken at the Bengaluru meeting. This is applicable to Eshwarappa, too. The meeting passed off smoothly and there is no rift in the party, he said.
DH News Service