Exodus from BJP on after BSY says will retire

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: There is no stop to the exodus of leaders from the BJP ever since former chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa, one of the main pillars of the saffron party in Karnataka, announced his retirement from electoral politics.

Though Yediyurappa is a strong propagator of Hindutva, he has more loyal friends in other parties than in the BJP. In the last 10-15 years, leaders from other parties joined the saffron party reposing their faith in his lead- e r - ship. The strongman from Shivamogga has never gone back on the promise made to leaders of the Congress or Janata Dal (Secular) at the time of their induction into the BJP.

In the 2019 'political coup', over two dozen sitting legislators from the Congress and JD(S) took the risk of switching over to the BJP to make Yediyurappa chief minister for the fourth time. They were promised ministers' posts and also assured that their by-poll expenditure would be borne by the party. Accordingly, once he became CM, Yediyurappa made almost everyone minister and gave them plum portfolios.

Except for A.H. Vishwanath, all others still owe a lot to the Shikaripur MLA without whom they could not have become ministers in their respective governments. After Yediyurappa announced his retirement from electoral politics, most of the leaders from other parties were feeling insecure under the new dispensation.

To date, Yediyurappa still commands respect both in state and national level politics as a person who was responsible for the installation of the first BJP government in South India. As he slowly started withdrawing from active politics, most of his close followers started packing their bags to go back to their original parties.

Some senior Congress leaders like Baburao Chinchansur and A.B.Maalaka Reddy from Kalaburagi district, former MLC Mohan Limbikai and ex-MLA Veerabhdrappa Halaharavi from Dharwad district, and BJP MLA M.Y.Gopalakrishna from Ballari have joined the Congress Party because they did not want to continue in the BJP sans Yediyurappa.