The BJP high command’s move to discipline loyalists of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, seems to be getting nowhere with the veteran Lingayat leader declaring on Sunday that the party could well prepare for early Assembly polls by dropping his eight loyalists from the Jagadish Shettar Cabinet. On Saturday, the party had acted tough and indicated it would no longer tolerate the rebels by removing two key BSY loyalists —Ayanur Manjunath and Dhananjaya Kumar — from their posts of BJP spokesperson and the state’s representative in New Delhi respectively. This has not gone down well with the BSY faction with the former chief minister calling a meeting of his supporters Monday morning at his residence to decide his future course of action.
While Manjunath paid the price for his not so kind comments against transport minister R. Ashok, Dhananjaya Kumar lost his post due to his proximity to Yeddyurappa. Sources said BSY, facing a tough situation, is likely to up the ante for the state president’s post, with Assembly polls hardly seven months away but were skeptical if he would break away from the party as it would lead to the exit of the BJP government, led by his loyalist, Jagadish Shettar.
Most of the MLAs, MPs, and ministers loyal to Mr Yeddyurappa are expected to attend the meting which will discuss recent developments and work out a strategy to force the Central leadership to make their leader state chief. They may also step up pressure for a portfolio reshuffle so that camp followers in the Shettar cabinet get plum portfolios.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who seemed tired of the central leadership’s reluctance to make him state chief, turned philosophical saying, “Politics has become corrupt, it’s time to clean it up. We need more and more honest people to enter politics”.
Addressing a Valmiki Jayanthotsav programme at Kengeri, BSY assured the community that their leader and small scale industries minister Raju Gowda would soon be handling a major portfolio. “I will fight for it. It was a BJP government which declared Valmiki Jayanthi a state holiday. I have worked hard for the development of this community. I am a person who believes in people and god,” he said and recalled his contributions to the welfare of women and the girl child with his implementation of the Bhagyalakshmi scheme.