LS polls: BJP once again falls back on Yediyurappa to deliver results in Karnataka
Whether it is selecting candidates or suppressing dissent in multiple constituencies, the 81-year-old member of the party’s central election committee is seen as “man of the season” | File image
BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa is certainly out of power and electorally politically active, but his influence in the party’s affairs in Karnataka remains as strong as the central leadership once again seems to be falling back on this seasoned rower to deliver results in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Whether it is selecting candidates or suppressing dissent in multiple constituencies, the 81-year-old member of the party’s central election committee is seen as ‘man of the season’.
Indeed, the stakes are high for the BJP parliamentary board member as he will have to ensure that his son BY Vijayendra consolidates his position as the party’s state president and silences critics who have questioned his selection for the post drawn, ignoring the claims of experienced hands.
The octogenarian, who has already announced his retirement from electoral politics, has been placed on the pedestal by the BJP’s central leaders, making him a major poll mascot in the state along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The reasons why Yediyurappa has been pushed to the top of the party’s election plank are not far to seek.
The four-time chief minister, who built the party from the ground up, has mass appeal and especially connects with the politically influential Lingayat community that no other party leader in the state has.
It is now clear from the BJP’s plan that the party is keen to leverage the ‘Yediyurappa factor’ and cast him as the poster boy to reap rich electoral dividends.
None other than the Prime Minister himself had effusive praise for Yediyurappa in his home district of Shivamogga during his public meeting earlier this month.
“Shivamogga is a special land – when none of us knew about it during the Jana Sangh days, when we had no members even at the communal level – at that time Yediyurappa ji spent his best years here. This is his ‘Tapobhoomi’,” had Modi said.
According to some political observers and BJP insiders, the party tried to sideline Yediyurappa in the Assembly elections in May last year.
The BJP was ousted from power by the Congress and could win only 66 seats in the 224-member Assembly.
The corruption problem, consolidation of minority votes behind the Congress and a section of Lingayats drifting away from the BJP were seen as the key factors for its defeat.
Vijayendra was appointed state unit president in November last year with the party reposing faith in Yediyurappa.
Yediyurappa’s stamp is clearly visible in the selection of candidates for Lok Sabha polls as he got tickets for his eldest son BY Raghavendra in Shimoga, and several loyalists including Shobha Karandlaje in Bangalore North, Gayatri Siddeshwara, wife of MP GM Siddeshwara, in Davangere, former CM Basavaraj Bommai in Haveri and Govind M Karjol in Chitradurga.
He is also said to have played a key role in electing a scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, to the Mysore seat, replacing MP Prathap Simha.
However, Yediyurappa also faced backlash from some aspirants, who did not get the ticket.
Several senior leaders like JC Madhuswamy from Tumakuru, former MLA MP Renukacharya and SA Ravindranath from Chitradurga, MP Karadi Sanganna from Koppal and some party leaders from Belagavi had openly expressed their fear against him for not supporting their candidature.
The party also faced dissent in constituencies like Bidar and Chitradurga, among others. Veteran party leader KS Eshwarappa has revolted and announced that he will contest as an independent against Shivamogga where Raghavendra is the candidate. He blames Yediyurappa for his son KE Kantesh not getting a ticket from neighboring Haveri.
Yediyurappa has approached disgruntled leaders and met some of them personally.
According to a party functionary, “The Yediyurappa factor has been largely beneficial to the BJP but has also had negative consequences at times. It is like a double-edged sword. His influence and appeal within the party and among the voters, especially the Lingayats, cannot be are denied.
At the same time, this has also led to conflict and division within the party, amid accusations of nepotism and cronyism.”
“The Yediyurappa factor obviously means strong leadership and mass appeal, but over-dependence on it, with focus on Lingayat votes, has somewhat limited the party in broadening its social base among other communities like Vokkaligas,” he said. “The party has seen the negative effects on the electoral front as it has never been able to win a majority in the state on its own.”
Pointing out that Yediyurappa is undisputedly the ‘chief architect’ of the BJP in Karnataka, with support from other leaders like Eshwarappa and late HN Ananth Kumar, another party leader said, ‘apart from controversies and allegations of corruption, the party has performed well under his leadership. in successive elections and whenever he was sidelined, performance was weak. It may be in the mind of the central leadership to fall back on him again and again.’
During the 2023 Assembly elections too, the BJP initially tried hard to secure Lingayat support without Yediyurappa, but was not very confident about it. Cultivating support from some other communities also yielded desired results.
Yediyurappa resigned as Chief Minister on July 26, 2021. Age was cited as a primary factor for his departure from the top job, with an unwritten rule in the BJP to keep those above 75 years old from elected offices. The central leadership of the BJP also wanted to make way for new leadership ahead of the Assembly elections.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections, Yediyurappa announced his retirement from electoral politics.
The BJP had swept the 2019 general elections to Lok Sabha, winning 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while an independent backed by the party had also emerged victorious.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 31, 2024 | 9:32 am IST