Bengaluru: Concerned over the rebellion in the Karnataka unit of BJP, party president Amit Shah has sent general secretary in-charge of the state unit, Muralidhar Rao, to hold talks with the two warring factions.
Mr Rao, who arrived on Saturday, met several leaders at the party office either individually or in groups to hear their views on the recent developments and is expected to submit a detailed report to Mr Shah. Among those he met were MLC, D S Veeraiah, MLA, Ravi Subramanya, Bellary MP, B Sriramulu, Mr G M Siddeshwar, and former MLA, Belur Gopalakrishna. All the men reportedly demanded action against senior leader, K S Eshwarappa and his supporters for their open rebellion, arguing it would tarnish the party’s image ahead of the Assembly polls next year.
State BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa is said to have, meanwhile, met national general secretary, Ram Lal Saturday morning to explain the rebellion led by Mr Eshwarappa and allegedly engineered by party national joint general secretary, Santosh.
While Mr Shah himself is not in Delhi , but in Jammu to launch a country-wide 95-day tour to strengthen the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, going by sources, the party is not in favour of taking disciplinary action against Mr Eshwarappa as it could worsen matters ahead of the 2018 polls.
The high command also appears to think the fault could lie with Mr Yeddyurappa as all those who have complained against him, are loyal party leaders. Sources also reveal that Mr Shah cannot take any action against Mr Santosh as he is a RSS pramukh. “Action cannot be taken against Mr Santosh just on the basis of the report submitted by Mr Yeddyurappa,” sources added.
However, once Mr Rao submits his report to the high command, both Mr Eshwarappa and Mr Yeddyurappa could be summoned to Delhi and advised to bury the hatchet in the party's interest, they revealed. When contacted, Mr Eshwarappa said he would definitely meet Mr Rao to share his views. “I have never said that I will not meet him. This is a canard spread to create confusion among party workers," he charged. Talking to reporters later, former Deputy CM R. Ashok slammed Mr Eshwarappa for creating problems in the party by holding Thursday's rally in Bengaluru.
