No leadership change, Yediyurappa will complete term as CM: Karnataka BJP chief

Speculations have been rife for some time now that efforts were on within the ruling BJP to exert pressure for unseating Yediyurappa

The BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel on Friday asserted that B S Yediyurappa would continue as the chief minister and asked all the party legislators to work towards Covid-19 management.

Kateel also said he would seek an explanation from Tourism Minister C P Yogeshwar on his statements making a veiled attack on BJP vice president B Y Vijayendra, Yediyurappa’s son.

“There’s no change (in leadership). Yediyurappa is our unanimous leader. Even the central leadership has clarified that there will not be any change. And, no discussion has taken place on this either inside or outside the party,” Kateel said.

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The Dakshina Kannada MP said speculation on this started soon after Yediyurappa became the chief minister. “The very day after he became the CM, it’s only been ‘change, change, change’. He has completed two years. He will complete the remainder of the term,” Kateel said.

Kateel also ruled out the possibility of holding a BJP legislature party meeting for the time being. “Till Covid-19 gets over, the party won’t call any meeting. After the pandemic, we will discuss whatever there is,” he said. A section of BJP MLAs want Yediyurappa to convene this meeting.

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Insiders say that the BJP’s factional split was out in the open with each player playing his own game and the central leadership choosing not to step in just yet. “Everyone has a vested interest,” a senior party leader said. “There is discontentment which is being fueled. The central leadership is just letting them be. They will intervene at the right time,” the leader said.

“Everybody knows the age factor will go against Yediyurappa. He can’t be the Karunanidhi of Karnataka. If and when the central leadership decides that he should be replaced, it will be made known to the CM-designate only 48-72 hours before the change of guard,” the leader
said.

Even Yediyurappa is playing his own game, this leader said. “He has his eyes and ears in central leadership. He will know the signs.”