Yediyurappa should not retire: Karnataka Congress president

In wake of B S Yediyurappa announcing his plan to retire from electoral politics, and hinting that his son might contest the next Assembly elections from the Shikaripur constituency, support for him came from an unexpected quarter. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar stated on Friday that Yediyurappa still had the pull in state politics even though the Bharatiya Janata Party “used” the former Karnataka chief minister and then dumped him.

Shivakumar told media persons here that Yediyurappa worked for the state with a strong ideology and was feeling pain and harassed by the current developments, though he might not express it. Yediyurappa, earlier on Friday, suggested that his younger son B Y Vijayendra, who is also Karnataka’s BJP vice president would be contesting from what has been practically Yediyurappa’s home ground.

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“Yediyurappa should not announce retirement, as he still has strength in politics. The BJP won 104 seats under his leadership, and Operation Lotus was conducted projecting his name. But he was made to step down from the chief minister's post … his associates were also harassed through raids. Though he is mentally hurt, he expressed pride about his party,” Shivakumar said. “Announcing his successor is up to him and his party, and we would not say anything.”

On Ramesh Kumar's statement

Shivakumar also came to the defence of former Karnataka Legislative Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar, saying Kumar was misunderstood and misquoted, even though the latter’s intentions were correct. Kumar had recently created a furore in political circles about “making assets for generations in the name of the Nehru-Gandhi family”.

Shivakumar tried to explain what Kumar meant. According to Shivakumar, Kumar meant that various reforms such as site allotments, land reforms and reservation that came into effect when Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and other Congress leaders helped improve people’s financial conditions. “Was it not the asset?” the KPCC president said.

On chief ministerial post

Downplaying the importance of becoming Congress’s chief ministerial candidate, Shivakumar said that those with Sonia Gandhi’s blessings would become the chief minister. “There is no infighting in the Congress on this issue, but the media is showing so,” he said.