Bengaluru: He has been facing rumblings within the party for months, but on Thursday state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa came up against outright rebellion as disgruntled partymen, who included the state unit's vice-president, Bhanuprakash and his long time rival, K S Eshwarappa, gave him until May 10 to resolve all issues worrying them, warning they could hold another mammoth rally on May 20 if he did not meet their deadline.
Ruling out any further talks with him, they said they would in future negotiate with only a four-member committee headed by BJP Karnataka in-charge, Muralidhar Rao.
Yeddyurappa's troubles seem to be growing as present at the "Save Organisation" meeting held at the sprawling Palace Grounds here were several prominent leaders of the party like Somanna Bevinamarad, Siddaramaiah, Siddaraju, and Shivayogi Swamy, besides all former MLCs and several former MLAs. While the leaders stopped short of insisting that he be replaced as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate or party president, they made it clear he could not appoint his cronies to all party posts and ignore the "loyal workers." Leading the attack, Eshwarappa said his "dictatorial" attitude would no longer be tolerated. Claiming that he was surrounded by psychophants interested in only furthering their own interests, he said they could end up becoming ministers in the Yeddyurappa Cabinet while the rest were ignored. "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.
Insisting that those at the meeting had no intention of joining any other party or launching a new political outfit, he asserted, "We are born BJP men and will remain so until we die unlike other turncoats. The decision to hold the meeting was taken only after waiting for three months for the party's core committee to examine our demands."
In an obvious attempt to belittle the Lingayat strongman, Eshwarappa recalled that the Karnataka Janata Party he floated after quitting the BJP in a huff, won only six seats while the BJP bagged 40 in the assembly elections that followed. Bhanuprakash clarified they were not demanding tickets to contest the coming Assembly polls or party posts but only appointment of the right people for the right posts. " Our demand is not removal of Yeddyurappa as party president. We waited for a year in the hope that he would change his style of functioning but nothing happened," he added. Former minister, Sogadu Shivanna said if Yeddyurappa gave them responsibility in the party, they would work to make him Chief Minister.
BJP Legislators want KS Eshwarappa out
BJP legislators cutting across caste lines have demanded stringent action against K.S. Eshwarappa, hours after he attended the 'Save Organisation convention on Thursday. Party legislators Y.A. Narayanaswamy, Dr C.N. Ashwathanarayana, Muniraju, Lehar Singh and party MP and BJP vice president P.C. Mohan addressed a press conference and said he had crossed the limits. "He has indulged in anti-party activity by organising this meeting in the name of dissatisfied workers. Eshwarappa, who lost the last election was made a MLC. The party also made him opposition leader in the Council. Instead of being grateful, he is making efforts to hurt the party's prospects which is nothing but a crime," Mr Mohan said.
Rebels plan to meet Shah
Former ministers Sogadu Shivanna and A. Ravindra said they have plans to meet party national president Amit Shah to explain to him recent developments in the BJP state unit.
Speaking to reporters here after the 'Save Organisation' meeting held on Thursday, they ruled out any talks with BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa and said they would discuss their grievances only with Mr Shah. "If needed, we are planning to take a delegation to Delhi to meet our national president."
Resolutions of ‘Save Organisation’ meeting
- Convene a meeting of the four-member core committee immediately as directed by BJP National President Amit Shah to solve contentious issues.
- Call a meeting in every division and invite former district presidents, general secretaries and important office-bearers to resolve internal problems.
- Change office-bearers and appoint loyal party workers..
- Revoke suspension orders served on all party workers.
- Set up an internal committee to find out about anti-party activities by MLAs and MLCs that resulted in the defeat in the recent bypolls.
- A meeting with national president must be convened to sort out all differences of opinion.
- All contentious issues must be resolved before May 10 failing which a mammoth rally will be held on May 20.
