BSY pushes for son Vijayendra for BJP chief’s post

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Former Chief Minister and BJP bigwig BS Yediyurappa is pushing for his son BY Vijayendra to be made the Karnataka BJP president, replacing Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel.

The saffron party leader is said to have made the suggestion before the BJP high command in New Delhi this past week at the sidelines of a parliamentary board meeting.

Notably, Yediyurappa is a member of said board. Vijayendra is the sitting MLA from Shikaripura, which had been his father’s constituency in the previous term.

Previously, the former CM had recommended the name of protégé Basavaraj Bommai for the post of the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly but the idea was abandoned as Bommai himself confirmed that he isn’t a contender for the post.

He had also suggested a non-Lingayat be made the state chief of the party. However, the pre-poll alliance talks for next year’s Lok Sabha elections between BJP and JD(S) have forced Yediyurappa to reconsider caste calculations.

JD(S)’ influence is mostly limited to the Old Mysuru region where its Vokkaliga support base is concentrated. The community can also be found in considerable numbers in Malnad districts such as Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga.

Earlier, Hindutva poster boy CT Ravi’s name was being pushed by some as a natural successor to Kateel, who belongs to the Bunt community, an agriculturalist caste.

Ravi is a Vokkaliga and a former Chikkamagaluru MLA. However, he is on bad terms with Yediyurappa. Moreover, the party high command, which mainly comprises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reportedly lost interest in Karnataka unit’s affairs after their catastrophic loss in May’s Assembly elections.

Ever since, appointment of the posts of LOP in both Assembly and Council are pending and so is pending replacement of the state chief. Another willing Lingayat face for the post of Karnataka BJP president was former Housing Minister V Somanna, who had been miffed with the party not too long ago.

He had contested from Chamarajanagar against Congress’ C Puttarangashetty and from Varuna against eventual CM Siddaramaiah and lost both contests.

Somanna had in June appealed to the high command to give him 100 days as state BJP chief to turn things around. Moreover, he and his son Arun are also not on good terms with Yediyurappa and Vijayendra.