Rajya Sabha MP Ayanoor Manjunath was in the limelight recently after his hard hitting remarks against transport minister R. Ashok, which led to his ignominous exit from the post of BJP spokesperson. Not the one to take sides during a conversation, Ayanoor displays shades of the socialist streak, so reminiscent of former chief minister late J.H. Patel. He is not averse to cracking jokes despite the bad times but makes it a point to add a social insight to his replies to questions. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, the Shimoga-based leader spoke about his spat with Mr Ashok and how he felt about former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa’ss attacks on the BJP top brass. Excerpts:

You criticised Dy. CM R. Ashok on his handling of the KSRTC strike and demanded his resignation. A couple of days before the transport strike, the government agreed to hike staff salaries by 10 per cent. But the unions were not happy as they had submitted a list of 32 demands. Of the eight trade unions, three decided to go on strike even though KSRTC and other transport corporations do not recognize these unions. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Union and CITU did not join the strike. Finally, an agreement was reached by the unions and the government. After any strike, union leaders generally thank the government and workers. This time, we were shocked to see them thanking former PM Deve Gowda and son H.D. Kumaraswamy. After obtaining a copy of the agreement on the new wage structure, we were shocked to see that the wage of an employee on probation would come down by Rs 750 and that of a senior officer would be slashed by over Rs 1,500. As honorary president of BMS, I decided to fight on the issue. At the end of four years, the government will save Rs 300 crore. What I said was that without inviting all leaders, how could the government hold talks and that too on the advice of Mr Kumaraswamy? This was why I demanded Mr Ashok’s resignation.

Is it true that demanding Mr Ashok’s resignation was part of Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa’s strategy?
No, absolutely not. It was a co-incidence that Mr Yeddyurappa demanded the resignation of K.S. Eshwarappa from the post of deputy CM the day I demanded Mr Ashok’s resignation. You see the BMS is under his (Yeddyurappa) control. When A.B. Vajpayee was Prime Minister, BMS activists held a protest inside Parliament. After I was punished, I asked the party why I was removed? You do not take action against MLAs like B.P. Harish and M.D. Laxminarayana despite their criticism of the leadership but punish me. The party says I failed to perform as BJP spokesperson. I had to highlight what the party decides in the larger interests.

Moving onto political issues, how do you perceive Mr Yeddyurappa’s outbursts against central leaders?
He had a grouse that when he went to jail and after he was released on bail, no one from the party defended him and instead tried their best to humiliate him. For a powerful politician like Yeddyurappa, this was something difficult to digest.

Isn’t he blackmailing the party?
A: This is not blackmail. He is a temperamental man. In the past, leaders have worked with him. Suddenly, when a leader much junior to him is considered for party state president, he might have felt insulted.

You say Mr Yeddyurappa is a mass leader, but he is identified as a Lingayat leader.
I feel this applies to Deve Gowda too. He is a mass leader, but people call him a Vokkaliga leader. When leaders like Ramakrishna Hegde and others were alive, people would never identify them on caste lines. Now, people of each community want their leaders to display their caste tag prominently instead of becoming mass leaders.

What is your prediction if assembly elections are held now?
I feel that if BSY stays back with the BJP, the party has a better chance of winning the elections.