BENGALURU: The BJP's plans of resurrecting its high perch, south of the Vindhyas next year could well come unstuck with the state unit staring at the prospect of a split in the aftermath of an open confrontation between factions headed by leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa and state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa, and the latter slamming national joint general secretary B L Santhosh for scripting the revolt, on Thursday.
The rebels, who got together under a banner "Samsthe Ulisi" (Save Organisation), set a deadline of May 10 for Mr Yeddyurappa to resolve all issues or face a mammoth rally ten days later, and announced that they would in future negotiate with only a four-member committee headed by BJP's Karnataka in-charge, Muralidhar Rao. The convention also witnessed some ugly scenes as a worker, who objected to the comments against Mr Yeddyurappa, was roughed-up and sent out by others.
Mr Eshwarappa, who has embarrassed central and state unit leaders with speeches at rallies organized by Sangolli Rayanna Brigade (SRB), minced no words as he targeted the former chief minister for taking unilateral decisions. "Our seniors have taught us that a person is not important. The nation first, party next and the person last. With this motto we have gathered here to move forward. When Mr Amit Shah declared Mr Yeddyurappa as the party president and the next chief minister, we were happy. But if you (Mr Yeddyurappa) act as you want, we can't sit quiet. We are not going to allow any individual to destroy the party. The purpose of holding today's meeting is to save the party from the clutches of some individuals. I don't care if they call us dissidents, miscreants or anti-party activists as we are committed to protecting our party and bringing it to power in the state.
They can't bully us by threatening to take disciplinary action either," he declared while pointing out that today's convention was organized after waiting for three months for the party's core committee to examine their demands.
The outcome of the convention prompted Mr Yeddyurappa to break his silence and train his guns against Mr Santhosh and Mr Eshwarappa. "All these activities began in the party office some months ago, some of our leaders supported it. The followers of Santosh, who is called the party's national leader, are behind this. He is the man behind it. We are bringing everything to the notice of the party central leadership. They are also taking note of it and they will take appropriate action," he told the media.
