RSS: Don't ignore B S Yeddyurappa

Bengaluru: The RSS has reportedly written to BJP president Amit Shah on the ground position of the party in the state and has reportedly cautioned him that the party may fall victim to internal sabotage and bickering among its leaders in the 2018 elections and may fail to fetch even 90 seats if immediate remedial steps were not taken. The Sangh has reportedly sensed a Congress hand behind igniting and publicly projecting the differences in the saffron party and has warned the BJP leadership about the imminent danger from within and outside the party.

According to sources, the state BJP, which has been battling the squabbles among its leadership; between CM candidate and state unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa and party’s Opposition leader in the Council Eshwarappa is now faced with an alleged new controversy - the projection of Uttara Kannada MP Ananth Kumar Hegde as the new ‘poster boy’ of the BJP, by a section of the media. “Mr Hegde is a Brahmin leader with a mass following in the coastal belt.

He has been entrusted with the task of winning maximum votes for BJP from the region. But the BJP cannot rule out the importance of Yeddyurappa – a Lingayat - and his control on the community which has a vote share of 17.8 per cent. The Brahmin vote share is 1.2 per cent. The BJP is worried about the split in Lingayat vote with Congress backing their claim for separate religion and at this juncture, any deviation from its commitment to Yeddyurappa as the probable CM will be dangerous to the interest of the party. The reports are speculative and backed by vested interests,” source said.