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Son Vijayendra to contest from BJP bastion Shikaripura in 2023, says Yediyurappa
Yediyurappa turned 79 this February and will be 80 by the 2023 assembly elections, which goes against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unwritten rule that anyone above 75 should not hold an administrative post
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Karnataka chief minister, BS Yediyurappa, on Friday announced that his second son, BY Vijayendra, will contest from his bastion of Shikaripura in Shivamogga district in 2023, potentially announcing his own retirement from active politics that began over four decades ago.
“We will work exceeding our strength and I request you to give your full cooperation to Vijayendra the same way you did for me. You should make him win with a margin of over 1 lakh votes and it will be a befitting fulfilment to all the service we have done,” Yediyurappa said on Friday in Shikaripura, about 300 km from Bengaluru.
Yediyurappa turned 79 this February and will be 80 by the 2023 assembly elections, which goes against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unwritten rule that anyone above 75 should not hold an administrative post. Despite this rule, Yediyurappa was projected as the chief ministerial candidate in 2017 by then BJP national president Amit Shah as the party continues to rely heavily on the Lingayat strongman who is possibly just one of two mass leaders in the state. The other being opposition leader, Siddaramaiah.
People aware of the developments said that this should not be looked at as ‘retirement’ as Yediyurappa will remain active and help build the party in the state.
In 1972, at the age of 29, Yediyurappa was elected as the president of Shikaripura Taluk Jana Sangha and entered public life. He was later elected as councillor in the same Taluka in 1975 and was even jailed for 45 days during the emergency. He later became the secretary of the Janata Party in 1977 and also became the taluka level president of the BJP in 1980. He first entered the assembly in 1983 (along with Siddaramaiah). He lost just once in 1999 out of the nine times he contested from Shivamogga district, including one stint in Parliament in 2014 before returning to state politics. He was elected to the legislative council in 2000 and remained in the upper house till 2004.
Yediyurappa is a record four-term chief minister of Karnataka, with at least two of these stints lasting less than a week. Yediyurappa who led the BJP to form its first ever government in southern India in 2008 has also never completed a full term in office during which the volatility in Karnataka’s politics took several turns, ending up as controversial tenures.
“No one from the party told him to take this step but he has done it on his own. When there is a rule that no one above 75 will be given a ticket, it wouldn’t look nice if he wanted to contest again,” said one person directly aware of the developments, requesting anonymity.
But needless to say, the BJP will have little choice but to depend on Yediyurappa to return to power as his influence over the Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka accounting for around 15-17%, is unparalleled.
Yediyurappa was forced to step down as chief minister in July last year and the former put forth the name of Basavaraj Bommai, who is believed to be a close confidante.
Yediyurappa’s older son, BY Raghavendra, is the MP from Shivamogga and Vijayendra is currently the BJP state vice president.
