Overconfidence, slackness led to BJP debacle; but BSY differs, says K S Eshwarappa
Kalaburagi: Have differences emerged between top BJP leaders on the reasons for the debacle in the recent assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls?
On Sunday, senior BJP Leader K.S. Eshwarappa attributed the setback suffered by the saffron party in the by-elections to the slackness in strengthening the organisation and also overconfidence among leaders. State BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa however chose to disagree with the view expressed by his party leader.
The two senior leaders, who were here to take part in different programmes, addressed the media separately one after the other at the same venue within a gap of half an hour. When media persons drew the attention of Mr Yeddyurappa to the observations made earlier by his party leader, the former CM quipped, “I don’t think so”. However owning responsibility for the setback suffered in the bypolls as state president of the party, he said the reasons would be debated at the core committee meeting scheduled to be held on November 13.
On the ‘humiliation’ suffered by his party in Ramanagara constituency, Mr Yeddyurappa made the shocking revealation that Mr L Chandrasekhar was fielded as the BJP candidate after his father C M Lingappa, who is a Congress legislator, proposed his name. When asked how Mr Lingappa, being a Congress legislator could propose the name to the BJP, the BJP chief stood by his statement. “I know Mr Lingappa is still in the Congress. But his son’s name was proposed to us by him,” he added.
Earlier reacting to the party’s debacle in the bypolls, Mr Eshwarappa said many prominent leaders of both Congress and JD(S) made concerted efforts to win it by utilising the administrative machinery. But he hastened to add, “wait for three months and see what will happen to the coalition government. The BJP will win about 24 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls.”
Mr Eshwarappa also appealed to Chief Minister H.D.?Kumaraswamy to show that the coalition government was ‘alive’ in the state. “Even though the government was formed five months ago, it is yet to take off and people have not yet reposed faith in it. The state is reeling under severe drought with water shortage looming large in several districts. Crops have been damaged due to paucity of rain. But, the district in-charge ministers are not reviewing the drought situation”, he alleged.
Despite the verdict delivered by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal for implementation of Kalasa Banduri Nala Project about two and half months ago, the state government has not made any effort to utilise the water allotted by the Tribunal for the project. “If the state does not utilise the water in about six months time, we will lose the authority over our share. This is a seious issue and we will raise it in the coming Assembly session”, Mr Eshwarappa said.
