Crisis in Karnataka BJP is not as severe as it is portrayed: Aravind Limbavali

Aravind Limbavali, once a trusted lieutenant of Union minister Ananth Kumar, is very close to former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa now. The MLA from Mahadevapura and BJP state general secretary, Limbavali, in an interview with DC, exuded confidence that the anti-incumbency of the Congress government would spell doom for the ruling party and the mass appeal of B.S. Yeddyurappa would help BJP to grow in the next two years. He feels the dissidence in the party is not so serious compared to that in the JD (S) and Congress. Here are excerpts.

It’s just three months after B.S. Yeddyurappa took over as BJP state president and the party is witnessing major dissidence. Why do you think it is happening?
Before coming to the present issue, let me explain the BJP structure first. We have booth committees at the grassroots, mandal and district committees and then comes the state and national committees. Unless you complete 50 per cent of appointments to the booth committees, you will not be given permission for holding elections to mandal committees. For instance if a district has 10 mandal committees, at least five or six have to complete the internal electoral process to become eligible for constituting the district committee. What happened here is that due to frequent elections, the poll process from the bottom could not be done. Instead, the process was reversed. After the appointment of the new national president, he appointed the state president. Technically, when a new president is appointed, the previous bodies cease to exist. The new president has to constitute all bodies. So Mr Yeddyurappa in the absence of the core committee, consulted party and parivar leaders and appointed state and district bodies. For an outsider it looks like he was thrusting people from the top. Actually it wasn’t. He consulted whoever mattered.

So, how is it related to the present crisis?
There is one more issue. After Karnataka Janata Party was formed, many BJP leaders and workers joined that party. Similarly, many outsiders joined the KJP. After KJP was merged with BJP, all of them entered the BJP. Now, we face a challenge of accommodating KJP men. If we had held meetings from booth to state level to iron out differences between the two outfits that merged, this would not have happened. Since we did not do it, there are misunderstandings. In fact, Mr Yeddyurappa told three of the general secretaries to speak to them. We held a meeting and heard them. Announcing office-bearers can’t be termed dictatorial. We smoothly appointed the president for Hubballi-Dharwad and many other places.

Now it is clear that party leader, K.S. Eshwarappa is angry over the appointment of Rudre Gowda as Shivamogga district president. This is a bigger social issue-of businessmen coming into politics, taking over major posts and later hijacking the government. In the end, it affects the common man.
Of the 36 districts, only in seven have former KJP leaders been made district presidents. Rudre Gowda defeated Mr Eshwarappa in the Assembly elections. That’s why Mr Eshwarappa is unhappy.

But this fight in Opposition party is doing its image no good.
Overall, the crisis is not as severe as it was portrayed in the electronic media. We had a similar problem in Bihar and Tamil Nadu where we are in the opposition.

There are some who compare the BJP to the Karnataka forest department. In the forest department, IFS officers are more and the number of guards are low. Your party seems to be top heavy.
Not really. We have nearly one crore members. One active member has to get 100 members. So we have a strong workers’ base.

You are not present in many districts like Mandya, your MLAs are a paltry one or two in many districts. Another contradiction is that a lot of Vokkaligas are in the RSS, yet BJP is weak in old Mysuru. Few Lingayats join the RSS yet the BJP is strong in north Karnataka.
Your analysis could be wrong. The RSS is a cadre-based organisation which has a presence everywhere. Even a large section of Lingayats are with RSS. But, the BJP is a mass based organisation. In south Karnataka, the Janata Dal and Congress have so far successfully managed to prevent us from entering the villages. That’s why we could not get a strong foothold here.

Why are you unable to produce mass leaders here?
These two parties suppressed our leaders. They hoisted false cases in many villages and in some, our workers were murdered. But we are expanding our base slowly. Mr R. Ashok and D.V. Sadananda Gowda are doing this and are gaining acceptance in this region.

Janata Parivar came to power in 1983 and very soon they managed to sink roots in the entire state.
You ruled for five years, yet you failed to get a foothold in south Karnataka. The circumstances were different then (in 2008). We had only 110 MLAs, and had to do a balancing act. So, we could not focus on expanding the party base. Still, we expanded. In Belagavi, leaders like Umesh Katti who joined us, brought electoral strength.

There are indications that D.K. Shivakumar may take over as state Congress president. Mr Shivakumar is young and energetic. He may finish off Mr Yeddyurappa politically. What do you think?
No, I do not agree with this. I have seen Mr Yeddyurappa from close quarters. His strategising is far superior to Mr Shivakumar. He will face anti-incumbency. In the ruling party, the chief minister gets more prominence than the KPCC president. I doubt, if Mr Shivakumar can pull it off this time.