Yediyurappa emerges as saviour for ‘sinking’ BJP ship

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The BJP high command has fallen back on the political acumen and seniority of former chief minister and veteran leader B.S.Yediyurappa to quell the upsurge in the party after the debacle in the recently-held Assembly polls. The rank and file of the party are up in arms against the state leadership for its total failure to check internal squabbles among leaders much before the declaration of the Assembly polls.

Then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai seemed to have no control over ministers while his predecessor, Yediyurappa had lost interest in campaigning for the party due to the manner in which he was forced out of the CM’s post due to the age-factor. The Lingayat voters therefore drifted towards the Congress Party.

Now, Delhi leaders seem to have realised their mistake of sidelining Yediyurappa and have given him the task of boosting the morale of party workers ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Yediyurappa still enjoys a lot of respect among party workers and seeing this, Delhi leaders have decided to bring him back to center stage to rebuild the party.

A senior BJP leader told News Trail that the high command committed a big blunder by asking Yediyurappa to retire from electoral politics instead of asking him to continue in state politics, with or without the CM’s post till the party found a Lingayat leader capable of replacing him. Basavaraj Bommai proved to be a failure as CM with even Vijayapura City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal emerging more popular than him. In the 2019 parliamentary polls, the BJP won 25 of the total 28 seats as Yediyurappa was at the helm then.

The Modi wave coupled with Yediyurappa’s appeal helped the saffron party achieve a remarkable number of seats. Now the high command has asked Yediyurappa to travel across the State to find the reasons for the party’s defeat and submit a report so that corrective steps can be taken before the Lok Sabha polls.