Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party MLC Lehar Singh, who was a close associate of the late former Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley, called his passing an irreparable loss to the nation and a great personal loss to him.
“I was fortunate to work closely with him from 2004 to 2008 and again in 2013. He identified young and potential leaders in the state BJP and gave them space to grow in the party organisation. Under his guidance I found a suitable place in the state BJP and was fortunate to receive him at the airport and take care of his stay in Bengaluru whenever he visited the city,” he said in his tribute to the late BJP leader here on Saturday.
Recalling that Mr Jaitley was instrumental in forming the government in Karnataka in 2006 and 2008, he said, “In 2004, the S.M. Krishna government was in a very comfortable position, but being in-charge of the BJP’s affairs in the Karnataka elections, he evolved a strategy, closely worked with senior BJP leaders, selected the right candidates and exposed the maladministration of the state government, which helped the party win 79 seats in the polls that followed.”
Mr Singh noted that the late leader was also instrumental in making present Chief Minister, B.S.Yediyurappa, the deputy chief minister in the Kumaraswamy government of 2006 and also in the party high command announcing Mr. Yediyurappa as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the 2008 Assembly elections.
“He was loved by all, including his adversaries. I am more saddened as the (late) Ananth Kumar, Sushma Swaraj and Jaitley were all instrumental in the growth of the BJP in Karnataka,” he added.
