After six months of power struggle between pro and anti B. S. Yediyurappa factions in the BJP, the party appointed leader’s son Vijayendra Yediyurappa as the state party president and made R. Ashoka LoP in the state Assembly, in a move to balance the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities, but will it stop bickering in the saffron camp in the state?
Vijayendra’s appointment is being widely seen as a move by the BJP to counter the narrative that Lingayat leaders were sidelined by the saffron party.
With the calculated moves, the BJP, which suffered defeat in the Karnataka Assembly polls, is hoping to do well in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Vijayendra’s appointment is also being seen as an olive branch to B. S. Yediyurappa who helped the BJP to win the first election in South India.
After completion of two years of his government in his fourth stint as chief minister, B. S. Yediyurappa resigned in July 2021, paving the way for Basavaraj Bommai to become the Chief Minister, who comes from Lingayat community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party high command acknowledging Yediyurappa’s political influence had made him a member of the BJP Parliamentary Board.
Despite losing Karnataka Assembly polls, the anti-Yediyurappa faction remained so powerful that no decision could be made regarding the state president or the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly for around six months.
B.S. Yediyurappa in his every visit to the national capital used to urge the party high command to make appointments to the post of party state president and leader of opposition in the state Assembly.
After that, the party high command last week appointed Vijayendra Yediyurappa, as the state president of the Karnataka BJP.
On Friday, in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, B.S. Yediyurappa, and the newly appointed state president of Karnataka BJP, Vijayendra Yediyurappa, a meeting of the legislative party was held, in which former deputy chief minister R. Ashoka was appointed as the leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly.
After six months, the Karnataka BJP finally got a new state president, and the party MLAs got their leader.
As B.S. Yediyurappa will have to put up his best show in the general elections and that too in a situation where there is no indication of any changes in the party’s central team, it poses a significant challenge for the pro-BSY faction.
(Santosh Kumar Pathak can be contacted at santosh.p@ians.in)
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