BJP core panel now toothless?

Bengaluru: The BJP leadership at the Centre has taken away the decision making powers of the state BJP core committee, which usually plays an important role in expansion of the Cabinet and other important administrative matters, according to party sources.

While in the normal course Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa,  who is also state party president, would be expected to take a decision on Cabinet expansion after a discussion with the state core committee, he has left  it to party's central leadership, they  point out.

Ironically, the BJP, which has been long critical of the Congress's high command culture, appears to be heading the same way, some party leaders note.

“When the BJP was in power from 2008 to 2013 in the state,  its core committee was active and met regularly to take important decisions. No decision was taken by the party or the government without first discussing it in the committee,” recalled a  senior  party leader.  But party sources note that that the core committee had lost its significance since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.

“In the past whenever the late former Union Minister, Ananthkumar was in town, he would never miss the party core committee meeting if it was held in Bengaluru. And when Mr D.V. Sadananda Gowda was state BJP president, he regularly held core committee meetings to discuss the party's administrative matters,” they observed.

But now the party seemed to be going the Congress way by centralising the running of the state unit of the BJP,  they added.