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BJP counts loss as Yeddyurappa quits party
Friday November 30, 2012 10:02:43 PM,
IANS
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Bangalore: A weak and divided BJP central leadership
and the faction-ridden Karnataka unit face an uphill task of
retaining power in the state in the coming assembly polls
following the exit of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurppa from
the party Friday.
The 69-year-old Yeddyurappa's new party, Karnataka Janata Party
which he will formally launch Dec 9, may not gain much in the
polls due next May but is certain to severely hit BJP's prospects,
already weakened by the scandals that has marred its maiden rule
that began in May 2008.
The former chief minister has nothing to lose even if his outfit
fails to win a single seat as his prospects of regaining power are
bleak in view of the over a dozen cases of corruption and illegal
land deals he is battling in Bangalore courts.
It is these cases that prompted BJP to refuse the state BJP post
to Yeddyurappa, though he has been claiming that party president
Nitin Gadkari has promised him that position in return for leaving
the chief minister's post last July in the wake of mining bribery
charges.
Yeddyurappa had built himself up as BJP's tallest leader in the
state after he led the party to power in the May 2008 assembly
polls.
He had outsmarted his rivals in the party, the most prominent
among them being party general secretary and Bangalore South Lok
Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar, by using caste card to win the
2008 polls.
Yeddyurappa belongs to politically powerful Lingayat community,
which accounts for 17 percent of the state's 65 million
population. The community is generally believed to be backing the
BJP as it felt neglected by Congress ever since Veerendra Patil
was unceremoniously sacked as chief minister by then Congress
president Rajiv Gandhi in 1989.
However Yeddyurappa's chances of winning a significant number of
seats in the coming polls rests heavily on the number BJP
legislators joining him.
Though nearly half of the ministers in the 34-member cabinet of
chief minister Jagadish Shettar and around another 40 party
legislators are believed to be loyal to Yeddyurappa, all may not
join hands with him.
The BJP has already launched a damage control exercise by
promising tickets to all, except four, of the 119 party
legislators.
But all the 115 legislators may not stay in the party as several
of them are said to be tapping the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular
on their chances of getting tickets from them.
The BJP is talking of fighting the polls under "collective
leadership", an exercise that usually flounders as various leaders
try to maximize their clout by undercutting others.
With little guarantee of retaining power in Karnataka, the state
unit's affairs may also get only cursory supervision from the BJP
central leadership as it itself is in turmoil over party president
Nitin Gadkari's alleged improper business dealings.
Yeddyurappa is making every effort to turn the elections into
himself versus BJP to the glee of Congress and JD-S, though these
parties too are not free from factionalism and caste battles.
Lacking a strong leader with an all-Karnataka appeal, the BJP
stares at seeing its much-touted launch-pad to rule south India
becoming the quicksand of its dreams.
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