Belagavi: Despite his ongoing cold war with state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa, senior party leader, K.S. Eshwarappa on Wednesday referred to him as his brother and said differences could crop up between brothers, but they could be resolved.
Showering praise on the Lingayat strongman at a press conference in Vijayapura, he said he was both shrewd and skilful at organising the party. "We will face the elections together and make Yeddyurappa the Chief Minister," he asserted, insisting that he was never against his leadership and nor would he be in future.
While terming the removal of Mr Bhanuprakash as the party's vice-president and the attack on national organising secretary, Santosh Kumar, as unfortunate, Mr Eshwarappa said he would welcome the nomination of Mr V Srinivasprasad as the party's state vice-president as he was an asset to it
However, continuing to justify the activities of his Sangolli Rayanna Brigade, he said it would organise more programmes to ensure justice for the backward classes and create awareness among people about the BJP's stint in power in the state. "BJP national president, Amit Shah has never asked us to stop the activities of the brigade," he claimed.
"As a loyal leader of the party, I have never done anything that could force it to sack me. I have never left the party and nor did I launch a new party," he added, taking an obvious dig at Mr Yeddyurappa, who has done both in the past.
Maintaining that there was no question of the party removing him as he always played by its rules, he said as many as a thousand people could attend the brigade's next event in Raichur on May 8.
Eshwarappa has been at loggerheads with the party leadership ever since he launched the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade with the BJP recently issuing a directive that no party leader or worker should get associated with any forum other than the party itself. The Kuruba leader had also organised a ‘Save Organisation’ meeting in Bengaluru a few days ago.
