Vijayendra will quit as Karnataka BJP president after LS polls, claims Eshwarappa

Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra will give up his post as state party president after the Lok Sabha elections, former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa said on Wednesday, March 20, even as he prepares to contest in the elections as an independent candidate against BY Raghavendra, the other son of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

A livid Eshwarappa, also a former state BJP president, alleged that Yediyurappa had promised to get his son KE Kantesh ticket to contest in the Haveri Lok Sabha seat but betrayed him.

“I am confident that once I win the election (from Shivamogga), Vijayendra will resign from the BJP state president post,” Eshwarappa said.

Blasts Yediyurappa

Eshwarappa has announced his candidature as an independent from the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat against Raghavendra, one of the two sons of Yediyurappa, making it a three-way contest that will also involve Geetha Shvarajkumar, daughter of former chief minister S Banagrappa and a Congress candidate.

Eshwarappa said there was a delay of six months in naming Vijayendra as the Karnataka BJP chief.

“Why did the delay happen? The central leaders were not ready for it. Due to Yediyurappa’s obduracy, he was made the state president."

Bypassing other BJP leaders

The rebel BJP leader wondered why Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was not made the BJP state president though he, like Yediyurappa, was also a Lingayat, a dominant community in Karnataka.

Eshwarappa said BJP leader CT Ravi quit as a minister to serve as BJP in-charge for Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu but he too was not considered for the post.

“Yediyurappa does not want anyone, be it Lingayat, Vokkaliga or anyone from backward caste, as the BJP state president. He just wanted his son to hold the post. I am fighting against that system,” Eshwarappa said.

Irresponsible statements: Yediyurappa 

Reacting to his statements, Yediyurappa accused Eshwarappa of making “irresponsible statements”.

He told the media in New Delhi: “It is known to all how the party grew in the state after Vijayendra became the state president. Eshwarappa is making allegations only because his son did not get a ticket, which is not right.”

Yediyurappa said decisions on selection of candidates are taken unanimously by the BJP Central Election Committee. “None of the decisions are taken by Yediyurappa unilaterally. Eshwarappa is unnecessarily alleging that I denied his son a ticket," he noted.

‘BJP decides’

On Eshwarappa’s move to contest the election as an independent from Shivamogga, Yediyurappa said party leaders have urged him not to take such a decision.

Referring to the Congress reportedly sending feelers to disgruntled former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, who was denied ticket to contest from Bangalore North again, Yediyurappa said the Congress was not getting proper candidates to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

On the delay in announcing BJP candidates for Raichur and Chitradurga, Yediyurappa said there were some reasons behind it which he wished not to discuss with the media.