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High command will decide candidature for 2023 assembly election, says Vijayendra
“This is the BJP... a national party, there is no question of an heir. BS Yediyurappa, for the last 30-40 years has put his life into building the organisation and the party too has given him respect and position. In the coming days, the party will return to power with a majority by using Yediyurappa’s strength,” Vijayendra said.
Karnataka vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party BY Vijayendra on Monday said that his candidature from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district in the 2023 assembly elections will be decided by the party high command.
“This is the BJP... a national party, there is no question of an heir. BS Yediyurappa, for the last 30-40 years has put his life into building the organisation and the party too has given him respect and position. In the coming days, the party will return to power with a majority by using Yediyurappa’s strength,” Vijayendra said.
His statements come days after former chief minister Yediyurappa announced that his second son will contest from his home seat of Shikaripura in Shivamogga, about 300 km from Bengaluru.
However, both Yediyurappa and Vijayendra have since tried to downplay the announcement, stating that the party’s high command will decide if the incumbent vice president of the saffron outfit will contest the elections or not. People aware of the developments said that the announcements are being made to make it difficult for the BJP to deny Vijayendra a chance to contest as any step in the other direction will appear to be a direct conflict with Yediyurappa, who the party continues to depend on to return to power in 2023.
Previously, Vijayendra has been accused of running a parallel government under the aegis of his then chief minister father which had rubbed several ministers and members the wrong way. In July last year, Yediyurappa was forced to step down as the chief minister but the party has been careful not to antagonise the leader.
“We are supposed to be Hindutva Vadi and under this there are no Vokkaligas (or others). Whoever thinks that India is theirs, comes under this. We do inclusive politics. When they (Congress) want, they do caste politics. When they don’t, they claim to be secular,” BJP national general secretary and legislator from Chikmagalur CT Ravi said.
As one of the tallest leaders of the Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka, the BJP relies heavily on the former chief minister who has said that he will continue to “build the party” and that “bringing it back to power with a full majority was his only goal.”
The Lingayats are reported to support the BJP, Vokkaligas have stood firmly behind the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) in recent times and the Congress has depended on the votes from backward classes, Dalits and minorities.
Congress state president DK Shivakumar has also sought backing of the Vokkaliga community for his chief ministerial bid in 2023 and to out-manoeuvre Siddaramaiah, who hails from the Kuruba community.
In another development, Congress leader Zameer Ahmed Khan has courted controversy over his comments about Muslims outnumbering Vokkaligas in Karnataka after Shivakumar’s appeal to the said community to back his CM bid.
“No one can become CM with support from one community, everyone will have the desire (to become CM) that’s not wrong...it is possible (to become CM) only by taking all communities together? I too have a desire to become CM, my community’s percentage is more than that of Vokkaligas. Is it possible for me to become CM, just with the support of my community? Not possible,” Khan said as reported by the PTI.
“The BJP leadership continues to seek support on the basis of communal card and hatred. The electorate are well aware of them. In order to gain power, intentions of C T Ravi and R Ashok have come before us. They are stubborn and want to retain power as no faith or religion before is important to them. Their only faith is power by hook or crook,” Khan said on Monday.
