Can BS Yeddyurappa get party bosses on his side?

Bengaluru: Clearly stung by the open show  of rebellion in the party at the ‘Save Organisation’ rally held in the city, state BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa is leaving for Delhi to demand action against senior leader K.S. Eshwarappa and BJP national joint general secretary, Santosh for orchestrating it.

He reportedly plans to carry with him media reports, a copy of the resolution passed by the rebels and a CD of Thursday’s meeting.  Going by sources, he hopes to meet BJP national president Amit Shah, general secretary, Ram Lal and other senior leaders to complain about the duo, who have become a stumbling block in his march towards the Chief Minister’s gaddi.  Mr Shah,who is on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir,  is expected to return to the capital Monday evening. But far from cowed down by the party chief’s moves,  rebel leaders too have sent media reports and a CD of  Thursday’s meeting to the party high command to show the growing discontent in the state unit. “The state president must not forget that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction,” a BJP MLC said, speaking to Deccan Chronicle.

Before leaving for Delhi, Mr Yeddyurappa warned Mr Eshwarappa that he would invite stringent action if he failed to mend his ways. “If party leaders have a problem they should bring it up at a party forum,  with Karnataka in-charge, Mu-ralidhar Rao or Mr Amit Shah. Instead, they  held a meeting in public and crossed all limits in their speeches. I expect Esh-warappa to mend his way as otherwise I don’t how far things will go,” he said. Also taking on Mr Santosh, Mr Yeddyurappa clai-med he was responsible for the recent developments in the party. “I expect him not to create unnecessary confusion,” he stre-ssed, adding “A detailed report of Thursday’s meeting has been sent to the party high command and I am  going to Delhi to discuss this issue with our national leaders. If possible, I will try to meet the national general secretary.” Dismissing the rebels’ charge that he had changed after becoming party  president, Mr Yeddyurappa cla-imed this was completely untrue. “I have not changed at all and am making aneffort to take everyone along with me in all matters of importance,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, MLC D M Veeraiah said there was no move as of now to replace  Mr Eshwarappa as opposition leader in the legislative council with senior leader,  K B Shanappa. “We will first try to convince him. If that does not work, the party high command will take a call. We don’t want any confrontation at this stage when the people want the BJP to come to power. I am optimistic that everything will be sorted out at the earliest,” he added.

Top brass not keen on acting against rebels?
The top brass of BJP are unlikely to initiate disciplinary action against leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa, though his detractors claim that the leader would pay a price for leading the revolt against state unit president B S Yeddyurappa.

Sources in the party, not linked with rival factions, told Deccan Chronicle that top central leaders would take decisions based on their independent assessment. “Central Leaders, who handled crisis within party units in north India, feel this one in Karnataka is not as big as it has been made out to be and therefore does not merit immediate attention. They are confident of resolving it in their own way,” sources added.

Asked why central leaders felt this crisis was not major when many party workers here felt it could deprive the party the chances of winning next year's Assembly elections, sources felt the party promised to come out with a poll strategy for Karnataka which could be independent of these leaders. “The traditional poll strategy might be dismantled this time. Our leaders are working a new caste-based strategy for Karnataka which is not heavily dependent on one community or a leader. So, it is quite natural that they will ignore the fight between Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Eshwarappa,” sources added.

Mr Eshwarappa’s prospects of securing a key post might not be bright after Thursday’s speech though RSS leaders seem to give him credit for taking on Mr Yeddyurappa. “There are many leaders who are as much upset as Mr Eshwarappa. But they are not coming out in the open. He did,” sources added.

Sources said neutral leaders and those of RSS are peeved with Mr Yeddyurappa dragging the name of B.L. Santhosh, organising secretary for south India. “Mr Santhosh is not for power politics. He is a RSS pracharak first. His services have been given to BJP. He had worked here as state organising secretary when Mr Yeddyurappa quit the party and formed KJP. There is nothing wrong if some workers, on witnessing the impulsive behaviour of Mr Yeddyurappa, feel that Mr Santhosh can lead the government if the party comes to power. But, Mr Yeddyurappa has been projected as CM candidate. Therefore, Mr Santhosh becoming CM does not arise. But Mr Yeddyurappa seems to have developed insecurity about his clout in ticket distribution and other things. That's why he might have mentioned Mr Santhosh’s name,” sources added.

BJP office typist sacked
An employee of the state BJP office has been removed from his job on charges of working for BJP National Joint Organising Secretary Santosh, who is involved in a running feud with party state president B.S. Yeddyurappa., Mr Mallikarjun, a typist in the party office, was allegedly found working unnecessarily for one of the staff members. He had been accused of typing the resolution and the booklet brought out by rebel leaders for the 'Save Organisation meeting held here on Thursday. Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa defended the removal of Mallikarjun from the post of typist for unnecessarily doing the work of a staff member.