Bengaluru: Cracks in the state unit of BJP widened with the eruption of a war of letters—one by camp followers of leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, K. S. Eshwarappa, and another by state unit president B S Yeddyurappa to party chief Amit Shah, seeking disciplinary action against the Kuruba leader.
Evidently upset with the style of function of Mr Yeddyurappa, MLCs and second- rung leaders, wrote to the former chief minister, urging him not to ignore loyal workers of the party while allocating responsibilities to the cadre. “We sought time with you on August 1, 2016 to discuss about confusion within the party, but you have not reacted to our earlier letter. Therefore, we have decided to write this letter for your kind pursual. After the central leadership of BJP appointed you as state unit president, we were delighted and wished that under your leadership, our party will return to power and also hoped that you will build the party after taking all leaders into confidence. But you have taken unilateral decisions while appointing state office bearers, district and taluk unit presidents. This led groupism in the party and also demoralized loyal workers of the party. Moreover, you have completely ignored senior OBC leader K.S.Eshwarappa by dropping him from our team which was constituted to visit drought hit areas,” states the letter.
The letter also requested Mr. Yeddyurappa to revise the list of office bearers of the state unit, and accommodate loyal in the organizational structure, withdrawal of show-cause notices served on former MLA Sogadu Shivanna and Tumakuru district leader M.B. Nandeesh, and suspension of Honnali mandal president, Hanumanthappa.
Meanwhile, sources close to Mr Yeddyurappa disclosed to Deccan Chronicle that the former chief minister has written to Mr Shah to rein in Mr Eshwarappa. In addition, he has briefed other central leaders about statements of Mr Eshwarappa and participation in rallies of SRB, much to the embarrassment of all leaders of the state unit. National organizing secretary, Ramlal, and in-charge secretary of the party, Muralidhar Rao, are among central leaders briefed by Mr Yeddyurappa.
Mr. Yeddyurappa reportedly told the central leadership and senior RSS leaders that Mr. Eshwarappa was causing confusion among workers by supporting activities of SRB, and criticising state BJP leaders in public.
The signatories in the letter addressed to Mr Yeddyurappa include M.B. Banuprakash, MLC, state unit vice president, Nirmala Kumar Surana, Raghunath Malkapure, MLC, Somanna Bevinamarada, S.A. Ravindranath, Sogadu Shivanna, Dr. H.S. Shivayogiswamy, M. Basavaraj Naik, Siddaraju, Narayana S, M.Y. Ravishankar, M.B. Nandeesh, Girish Patel, Ashok Gasti, B.H. Krishna Reddy, Mahesh Tenginakai, M.S. Somalingappa, Nemiraja Naik, Chandra Naik, Jagadish Metagudda, Ashwathanarayana, Srikanth Kulakarni and Basvaraj Man
BSY camp rubbishes reports about letterdimatt
The state unit of BJP rubbished reports about a letter written to president B S Yeddyurappa on his “autocratic” style of functioning, alleging that it was the handiwork of some miscreants, on Friday.
Spokesperson G. Madhusudhan told the media here state unit president B S Yeddyurappa did not receive any letter with complaints about his style of functioning. “No BJP leader sought an appointment with Mr. Yeddyurappa on August 1, 2016, as stated in the letter. Allegations made in the letter are far from truth, and it is ridiculous to state that party workers are not getting an appointment with Mr Yeddyurappa. In fact, workers are frequently meeting our president in the party office whenever they want to. Sending a letter to the media without sending it to our president only shows that some miscreants are involved in this deed”, the spokesperson added.
