Haveri: If he intended to rattle his long time bête noire and state party chief, B S Yeddyurappa even more than he already has, BJP veteran, K S Eshwarapa may have succeeded on Saturday as the mega first convention of his Sangolli Rayanna Brigade (SRB) here was attended by a crowd of nearly 10,000.
While all local BJP office-bearers stayed away from the convention in response to a diktat from their party chief, a few leaders including MLC, Somanna Bevinamarad, an Eshwarappa loyalist, participated in the meet, which was preceded by a grand procession from Siddappa Circle to its venue.
Later , after inaugurating the convention, Mr Eshwarappa asserted that he did not intend to cause any split in the party's votebank with the formation of the brigade, but only hoped to strengthen it.
Taking a dig at Mr Yeddyurappa for splitting the party and costing it the last elections, before returning to its fold, he said, "The BJP lost around 40 seats in the previous Assembly elections with a slender margin due to the formation of the Karnataka Janata Party by Yeddyurappa. The brigade will now attract the Dalits and backward communities who are upset with the Congress government. to the BJP. The Congress is hoping I will spoil the party’s chance through the brigade like the KJP did in the last elections, but I will never allow a split in the BJP votebank and will continue to remain in the party till my last breath."
Mr Eshwarapa announced he would invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the brigade’s convention in Bengaluru and also convince Mr Yeddyurappa about the role it could play in bringing the BJP back to the power in Karnataka by garnering more Dalit and backward class support for it.
