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BJP inducts BSY into key parl board with eye on 2023 polls
With just eight months to go before the election, the BJP has little choice but to keep Yediyurappa on its side as he still remains one of the most bankable leaders of the party and built it from the ground up since the early 1970s.
The BJP national leadership on Wednesday included former Karnataka chief minister and senior party leader BS Yediyurappa into the 11-member parliamentary board, emphasising its reliance on the Lingayat strongman to retain to power in the state in the 2023 assembly election.
The 79-year-old was forced out of the top chair in July last year after months of uncertainty over his future as the head of the government as allegations of corruption against him and his family grew and there were concerns on if the four-term chief minister was the right fit for the BJP’s Hindutva push in southern India as well as growing dissent within the party.
“I have already expressed many times that my aim is to bring the party back to power in the state in 2023 assembly elections. With all our leaders, I will tour the state and bring back the party (to power) in Karnataka and tour in south India also,” a cheerful sounding Yediyurappa said in Bengaluru.
Flanked by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, other cabinet ministers and party legislators loyal to him as well as his son and apparent successor, BY Vijayendra, Yediyurappa said the “responsibility” entrusted to him will silence the opposition.
“What will they say now?” Yediyurappa said to smiles from his supporters, including the chief minister, on a question that the Congress accused the BJP of sidelining the leader.
With just eight months to go before the election, the BJP has little choice but to keep Yediyurappa on its side as he still remains one of the most bankable leaders of the party and built it from the ground up since the early 1970s.
Though all his four terms as chief minister was mired in controversy, including poaching of MLAs to form the first BJP government in 2008 (Operation Kamala), illegal iron ore mining scandal, resort politics, engineering the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) coalition in 2019 and his eventual stepping down as chief minister last year.
Yediyurappa commands significant influence in the state and particularly the Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka, as he demonstrated his influence when he brought down the BJP from 110 seats out 224 in 2008 to 40 in 2013 when he briefly parted ways and launched the Karnataka Janata Paksha the previous year.
Bommai, on the other hand, has remained in the shadow of Yediyurappa and the national leadership. Yediyurappa’s relationship with the party high command was strained which also led to his forced departure as chief minister. However, he was able to get Bommai named as chief minister and get all his loyalists, including the defectors who helped him secure power in 2019, cabinet berths.
People aware of the developments said Bommai continues to rely on Yediyurappa for day-to-day affairs even though there have been reports that the chief minister has since relied more on the national leadership that would benefit his case to be allowed to continue as chief minister if the party retains to power with a majority.
“With the nomination of Yediyurappa to (the) parliamentary board, the party has now got the strength of an elephant. The victory of BJP in the 2023 assembly election is for sure. I am indebted to prime minister Narendra Modi ji and BJP president JP Nadda ji for nominating him for the important post,” Bommai said.
The developments also show that the BJP has its sights set on other south Indian states where it has little or no presence in terms of elected representatives, and it retaining to power in Karnataka will give them a base in the region which it calls “gateway to south India”.
But much of Yediyurappa’s critics are from within his own party.
Basanagouda Patil (Yatnal), the BJP legislator from Vijayapura and one of Yediyurappa’s fiercest critics, said he was happy that the former chief minister got this post and also added a cheeky comment.
“The high command has probably done this with some long-term vision. The prime minister in the 75th Independence Day speech has clearly given a message saying he will end family politics and from now on, those who say they want their children to become MP or MLA, it won’t happen in the state,” he said.
He said being part of such a high decision-making body does not ensure a ticket. “There are those in the election committee who do not get tickets. What do you (media) say to that?” he said, adding he will not make any “controversial statement” today.
Yediyurappa has also announced that his son Vijayendra will contest from his home seat of Shikaripura with the caveat that the same had to be approved by the high command. But, he denied speculation that he had “retired”.
“I have never believed that in public life and politics, there is any space for retirement and the central leaders have validated this,” he said.
Yediyurappa has already announced a state tour with his party under “collective leadership” and ensured that he would work until his last breath for the outfit and that the BJP will manage 130-140 seats in the state next year. He even said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the state at least once a month from now on.
Congress leader Siddaramaiah said he was happy about Yediyurappa. “Very happy that Yediyurappa has been recognised by his party,” he said, without deliberating further.
Narendar Pani, a Bengaluru-based political analyst, said: “It is a recognition for the first time that the BJP cannot win the elections without Yediyurappa. By putting him in the parliamentary board, in some sense, is giving a message that he is above the local leaders. Other than BL Santosh, who comes from the RSS, the BJP has no one else.”
