Why Yatnal & co are given so much leeway in Karnataka BJP?

NT Bengaluru

The Karnataka BJP, which was expected to be aggressive in the wake of corruption allegations against the ruling Congress, has instead been left reeling due to a challenge from within. Infighting in the party has somewhat distracted them from pursuing the State government in relation to the Valmiki Corporation illegal money transfer scam and the Mysore Urban Development Authority (Muda) site allotment scam. At the heart of the internal friction is BJP MLA from Vijayapura Basangouda Patil Yatnal, a staunch opponent of the family of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who is accused of having a stranglehold on the party’s state unit. Others in the rebel camp include Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, former MLA Arvind Limbavali, former MP Pratap Simha and others.

BJP national general secretary BL Santosh is accused of propping up the rebels and his tussle with the Yediyurappa clan is cited as proof. Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra was elevated to the party state president’s post in November last year. The BJP acted on an intra-party report that held Lingayat strongman Yediyurappa was their only mass leader. Simultaneously R Ashoka was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly.

A month later, mostly Yediyurappa loyalists were named among the 10 BJP vice presidents, 10 state secretaries, four general secretaries and chiefs of various morchas. There were positive results at first as BJP bagged 17 Lok Sabha seats out of 28 in June this year while JD(S) won two of three they contested. The saffron party has the upper hand in Parliamentary polls being seen as the biggest national party.

Party smarts from bypoll debacle: This perception was affirmed when the BJP lost both by-elections it contested in Shiggaon and Sandur earlier in the month even as JD(S) lost Channapatna. Yatnal promptly blamed Vijayendra and mocked him for suggesting that all “doors” would be closed for the rebels. Yatnal has taken out his own parallel ant-waqf campaign while labeling Vijayendra as corrupt. Professor Narayana A from the school of policy and governance at the Azim Premji University conceded someone in the BJP high command that was propping up Yatnal but refused to name BL Santosh. “This dissident is operating not on its own volition but on the behalf of somebody in the high command,” Narayana said. “Otherwise, these people are too small in the party to make such big statements of the kind Yatnal has been making.

"This kind of indiscipline being tolerated suggests that this group has been kept alive and active by someone in high command as part of some strategy,” he said. “It has certainly been a setback for Vijayendra and Yediyurappa because losing (Basavaraj) Bommai’s constituency Shiggaon, it’s certainly serious. What might have happened there is a kind of Ahinda (acronym for minorities, backward castes and Dalits) consolidation. Kurubas and Muslims have come together,” he said, adding that the guarantees were another factor. However, Narayana cautioned the BJP high command may not read too much into the results of the bypolls.