Amid march calling for Siddaramaiah’s resignation over MUDA scam, BJP faces embarrassment from within

Yatnal was in Vijayapura when the padayatra kicked off in Bengaluru. “Even if the high command asks us, we are not ready to go behind Vijayendra,” said the MLA known for his vitriolic remarks.

None of the senior BJP leaders were consulted before the decision, Yatnal said. “His father (BJP Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa) asked him to take out the march,” he said, adding that the ploy was to project Vijayendra as the next chief ministerial candidate.

The MLA did not spare Yediyurappa either, saying the BJP high command should keep the veteran leader away from such events to avoid embarrassment. “Yediyurappa himself is facing charges of corruption,” he said.

Among his other accusations was that the BJP leadership had forced Union Heavy Industries and Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy to inaugurate the march. Kumaraswamy had earlier expressed reservations over the march by citing the agrarian distress caused by heavy rain and the presence of state BJP general secretary Preetham Gowda in a meeting held to discuss the march.

However, the JD(S) leader made a U-turn a day later and announced that his party would take part in the march.

According to Yatnal, it was Gowda who had distributed over one lakh pen drives with explicit videos of disgraced former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna. “The pen drives were distributed based on Vijayendra’s directions,” the BJP MLA alleged, accusing his party’s state president of indulging in “blackmail” tactics.

Yatnal’s attacks on Yediyurappa and his son Vijayendra are not new. After Vijayendra was appointed BJP state president, Yatnal accused the former chief minister of blackmailing the party high command to secure the Union cabinet berth for his son. Despite his repeated attacks on BJP leaders, which also includes former CM Basavaraj Bommai, the party leadership has not acted against Yatnal.

Other BJP legislators who skipped the event include Gokak MLA and former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, MLAs Shivaram Hebbar and S T Somashekar, and former minister Kumar Bangarappa.

According to BJP sources, though the party leadership had ignored the repeated remarks by the BJP MLA, “the patience of the party high command was running thin”. “The MLA was warned several times. But he has continued with his antics. Action will be taken against him if he does not mend his ways,” a senior BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress is holding multiple rallies along the Bengaluru-Mysuru route to counter the BJP’s campaign.