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No condition to make me minister in Bommai cabinet: BY Vijayendra
Bengaluru Karnataka BJP vice president and son of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, BY Vijayendra on Thursday said that his father had not tried to place any conditions to make him a minister in the new cabinet
Bengaluru Karnataka BJP vice president and son of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, BY Vijayendra on Thursday said that his father had not tried to place any conditions to make him a minister in the new cabinet.
“One thing is clear that even suggesting that BS Yediyurappa made a condition to make me a minister while giving his resignation is a black mark on his career,” Vijayendra said on Thursday.
He said that it would “wrong” on Vijayendra’s part to even be an aspirant for a post in the cabinet as he was not an MLA or an MLC.
The statements come a day after chief minister Basavaraj Bommai got 29 members inducted into his cabinet with no deputy chief ministers.
People aware of the developments said that Yediyurappa is keen to placate his sons before he does eventually retire from politics after nearly five decades. One son, BY Raghavendra, is the member of Parliament from Shivamogga and Vijayendra is the state vice president.
Vijayendra was also accused of running a parallel administration under the aegis of his chief minister father, which had been one of the major causes for discord and dissent within senior members of the party.
Bommai on Wednesday had said that BJP national president JP Nadda had spoken to Yediyurappa and party general secretary incharge of Karnataka, Arun Singh, had spoken to Vijayendra on the latter’s possible entry into the government.
There is also speculation that Vijayendra is likely to be fielded from the vacant Hangal assembly bypoll seat that fell vacant after the death of senior leader CM Udasi.
Vijayendra, people aware of the developments said, is interested in the Old-Mysuru region where the BJP has limited representation and have to make inroads if the party has any hopes of returning to power on its own in 2023.
Vijayendra has been closely linked to Varuna constituency, the former seat of Siddarmaiah that is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra.
One senior BJP leader, on the condition of anonymity, said that Vijayendra has been given enough preference and any further consideration of post has to be based on what he brings to the table and not only because he is the son of Yediyurappa.
Vijayendra, one his part is now attempting to replicate his father by undertaking a state-wide tour ahead of the 2023 elections. Yediyurappa is also hopeful that Vijayendra is the seen as not just his political heir but also accepted as the leader of the dominant Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in the state.
The BJP is trying to inorganically grow in the old-Mysuru region and have managed to rope in N Mahesh, the former minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) partyman. Mahesh is the sitting legislator from Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district.
