Mandya BJP infighting new headache for party

Saffron party seems riddled with internal strife as Panchamasali leaders sharply divided over reservation stir, even as Yediyurappa tries to remain relevant by approaching Modi

NT Correspondent

Mandya: More fissures have emerged in Karnataka BJP as State Revenue Minister R Ashoka was greeted with calls for his boycott by party workers on his visit to Mandya on Thursday.

The saffron party bigwig had been in town to unfurl the tricolour on Republic Day. The hostile reception comes in the backdrop of Ashoka replacing State Excise Minister K Gopalaiah as the Mandya district in-charge minister on Wednesday.

Gopalaiah, who had defected from the JD(S) in 2019 is said to have been popular among the local BJP cadre for being ground sensitive. Gopalaiah retains the Hassan in-charge minister post. Posters had appeared in the city bearing Ashoka’s image with boycott being stamped over them. Others read ‘Go Back Ashoka.’ The visiting minister dismissed the posters as a ploy by the Congress or the JD(S).

However, there are voices within the local BJP unit like local leader Dr Siddaramaiah who have been public in expressing their distaste for the new appointment. Ashoka, a senior Vokkaliga face in the party, had been angling for the berth of the Bengaluru in-charge minister. However, fellow Vokkaliga and Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan had also been demanding the same post.

This had caused Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to retain the ministry in order to avoid further infighting. Local leader terms move ‘adjustment politics’ Ashoka was offered the post of Mandya district in-charge minister as a fig leaf in the end.

Dr Siddaramaiah, who had contested from Mandya in the 2018 Lok Sabha bypolls on a BJP ticket and lost, termed the move “adjustment politics,” referring to Ashoka getting the Mandya in-charge ministry as a consolation. He said that the move had created fear and confusion among the party cadre. He also hoped that the BJP high command would uphold “party interests”.

Earlier, Gopalaiah had replaced Narayan Gowda as the district in-charge minister. Ashoka on the other hand remains adamant that him taking on the post had rattled the Opposition Congress and JD(S), prompting them to resort to pasting these posters in Mandya on the day of his visit.