‘Don’t lobby for berths, focus on relief work’

Bengaluru: They were hoping for a slice of the pie, but came away with an earful. BJP legislators, who rushed to lobby with the party's central leadership for a ministerial berth in the Yeddyurappa government, were reportedly sent away with a stern warning to get their priorities right and  monitor the flood relief work in their respective constituencies instead.

Several BJP MLAs had rushed to Delhi on August 5 with Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, hoping to find a place in his cabinet, but have now returned to Bengaluru to pay more attention to the problems of the people affected by the  floods, according to party sources.

Many of them are, however, hoping this will win them brownie points with the party's national leaders and prove to be their ticket into the  cabinet, they say.

The Chief Minister, who has  assigned senior legislators to tour the flood affected districts , was briefed by the BJP MLAs about damage to crops and houses during his visit to them.

It is believed that Honnali BJP MLA, M.P Renukacharya, Chennagiri MLA, Madal Veerupakshappa and others are trying their best to impress Mr. Yeddyurappa with their work. But Mr. Renukacharaya   has instead invited  ridicule after a video showing him taking flood victims in a  coracle  to safety went viral as the water was less than  a foot deep. Senior BJP  leaders are said to have pulled him up for embarrassing the party.

Meanwhile, senior BJP senior leaders, R. Ashok and Aravind Limbavali are sending relief material collected in their respective constituencies to flood affected areas. Mr. Limbavli is in fact, monitoring relief material collected from across the state, according to sources.  Senior  BJP leaders like K.S.Eshwarappa, Govinda Karjol, C.M. Udasi, Umesh Katti, Basavaraj Bommai, V. Somanna, Murugesh Nirani, Basavaraj Patil Itnal, C.T. Ravi, Sunil Kumar and Kota Srinivasa Poojari too are doing their bit for flood victims in North Karnataka, Chikamagaluru, Shivamogga  and the coast, say sources.