Bengaluru: Dissent within the Karnataka BJP spilled out into the open as a senior party leader claimed that B.Y. Vijayendra was made state party chief “only because he is B.S.Yediyurappa’s son”.
Though there have been murmurs of disapproval from several quarters, a section of leaders is now coming out into the open to speak out against Vijayendra’s elevation.
In a video that has surfaced from Belagavi, about 500 km from Bengaluru, former Union minister and Vijayapura MP Ramesh Jigajinagi is heard saying that people like him did not even dream of getting the post, and that he was not jealous of Vijayendra’s appointment since no such opportunities were extended to Dalits within the party.
“We didn’t name (nominate) Vijayendra. Party seniors, for various reasons…may have deliberated and decided that Yediyurappa’s son must be made (state president),” he is heard telling reporters.
Vijayendra belongs to the dominant Lingayat community. The BJP has largely sided with the community, which has put its weight behind the party, particularly Lingayat strongman and former four-time CM Yediyurappa, for at least four of the last five elections.
Jigajinagi also raised questions of caste-based patronage of the BJP towards dominant groups. “We keep supporting leaders of dominant castes, like Lingayats, by addressing them as Gowda, Sahukar and Patil. We support their growth. However, they do not support us in return. Dalit leaders do not grow to the top easily in this party. It is very sad. But we will accept this and move on,” he told reporters.
Jigajinagi is one of the few leaders who have publicly spoken against the appointment of 48-year-old Vijayendra, threatening to widen the rift within the state BJP since its crushing defeat in the 10 May assembly elections.
The BJP high command had announced the appointment of Vijayendra last Friday, after six months of growing infighting and splintering factions in a leaderless outfit.
Several senior BJP leaders spoke to ThePrint, expressing their anger at the appointment. Many said Vijayendra’s elevation had shaken their ideological beliefs as the BJP always claimed to be a party that scorns dynasty politics.
The voices of dissent came even as Vijayendra was given a grand welcome at the BJP office in Bengaluru as he formally took charge from Nalin Kumar Kateel.
Vijayendra had earlier said that he will meet all senior leaders of the party and assuage any underlying tensions.
- T. Ravi, V. Somanna, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Aravind Bellad and several others were said to be in the running for the post of state party president.
Vijayendra has met Ravi, who has so far refrained from making any comments on the record as it would be “misconstrued”.
Bellad, Somanna and Yatnal did not attend the event organised by the party to welcome Vijayendra Wednesday. Ravi had said that he will be unable to attend the event since he was the in-charge of polls in Madhya Pradesh.
Several leaders have masked dissent but some like Basanagouda Patil Yatnal have not minced their words. He remained out of the radar for the entire weekend but on Monday lashed out at the party.
“This development shows that the present BJP is a hybrid party, not native. It seems like scrap metal (gujari),” he told journalists in Vijayapura earlier in the week, according to a report in The Hindu.
Yatnal is an aspirant for the post of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the lower house of the legislature. But since the post of president has now been given to a Lingayat, the party is likely to consider a candidate from another community. Sunil Kumar Karkala, Dr C. N. Ashwath Narayan, R. Ashok among others are believed to be among the frontrunners for the post.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Had it been about dynasty, they would have made me minister, says Yediyurappa’s son Vijayendra