No end to BS Yeddyurappa-KS Eshwarappa face off, brigade rally on Jan 26

Bengaluru: The stand-off between state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa and leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa over Sangolli Rayanna Brigade (SRB) intensified with the latter staying away from a meeting of MLCs convened by the former CM to discuss the strategy for forthcoming election to the upper House, on Thursday.

Mr Eshwarappa, who spent the day in his residence in Shivamogga, told the media that he decided to skip the meeting as he was informed about it at the eleventh hour. “The attitude of Mr Yeddyurappa has helped increase the popularity of the brigade. Over two lakh people will participate in convention to be held in Kudala Sangama in Bagalkot district on January 26. No one can stop this event,” he added.

Meanwhile, sources in the party said Mr Yeddyurappa would find it tough to quell the rebellion of Mr Eshwarappa as the latter was a permanent member of the national executive and could be pulled up only by central leaders. Besides, president Amit Shah would look into the feud between these two leaders during a nation-wide tour, post the Assembly party elections in five states. Sources said Mr Yeddyurappa continued to humiliate the Kuruba strongman, and recently dropped him from a tour across the state to assess the impact of scarcity conditions. On Thursday, former minister V. Somanna, MLC, who recently identified himself with camp of Union minister Anant Kumar, came for the meeting, but left the venue before the meeting commenced. He said “I thought the meeting was convened to take action against Mr Eshwarappa, but the agenda says discussion on elections from teachers’ constituency. So, I have come out of the meeting hall,” Mr. Somanna added.