Karnataka BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra, who is facing opposition from within the party, on Friday, chaired a meeting of former MLAs and MLCs to mobilise support ahead of the February election that will decide his fate as the party chief.
Even as Vijayendra wades through troubled waters, his father and BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa surprised everyone by attending the luncheon meeting held at a hostel in Bengaluru.
The former chief minister and Lingayat strongman has sounded the bugle to take on the ruling Congress in the upcoming zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat elections, but also to safeguard his son’s position within the party by strengthening the party and its prospects.
The 81-year-old leader who holds sway over the dominant Lingayat community which has a sizeable population in more than 100 Assembly constituencies chose to shield his son even as the rebel factions have been mooting for a change of guard in the state and to replace Vijayendra with an OBC leader (Kumar Bangarappa).
The factional war in Karnataka BJP has reached a crescendo with the Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Yatnal-led rebel faction’ openly revolting against Vijayendra. The infighting has resulted in not two but three factions with senior leaders choosing to stay neutral.
Despite several reminders, warnings and a show-cause notice, the rebel leaders continue their tirade against the party chief and have been organising meetings, separate anti-wakf protests and frequenting Delhi to meet the central leaders.
Earlier efforts by central leaders BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Karnataka in-charge Radha Mohandas Agarwal, who visited the state to hear both factions, failed to quell the dissent.
The rebel camp leaders – Yatnal, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Kumar Bangarappa, Anna Saheb Jolle, B.P. Harish, G.M. Siddeshwar, Pratap Simha Arvind Limbavali and N.R. Santhosh have refused to make peace with the Vijayendra faction.
The infighting has cost the party its image and is denting the organisational strength too as cadres and local leaders are confused and the party not initiating disciplinary action against dissidence is being seen as a weakness too.
According to sources, Yediyurappa appealed to the former legislators to hold meetings in their constituencies and promised to tour the state to strengthen the party ahead of the local bodies polls. He also asked the cadres and leaders not to heed a few leaders who spoke ill of him and the party president. He also stated that the central leadership was aware of all developments and would act at an appropriate time.
Vijayendra denied the meeting was a ‘show of strength’ and said the meeting was long overdue.
“I wanted to hold a meeting of the defeated candidates but the work pressure did not permit it. This is not a show of strength or meant to expel anyone. As the ZP and TP polls are around the corner, we discussed strategies to strengthen the party,” said Vijayendra, after the meeting that was also attended by former chief minister D.V. Sadanand Gowda and leaders of the opposition R. Ashok and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy.