Vijayendra takes over as Karnataka BJP boss; MLAs Yatnal and Bellad among absentees

“We won’t do any operation. There is no need to worry,” he said, taking a dig at the Congress’s allegation of another ‘Operation Lotus’ in the state, and suggested the Congress government could collapse on its own.

Attacking the Siddaramaiah-led state government, Vijayendra alleged there was daylight robbery under Congress rule and that “there is no environment for investments”. He also set a target to win all the 28 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The jam-packed event at the BJP office in Bengaluru had some notable absentees, such as party MLAs Basangouda Patil Yatnal and Arvind Bellad. Though former minister CT Ravi was also among the absent, he issued a video message in the morning saying that he was in Madhya Pradesh to campaign for the Assembly polls there.

All three are considered part of BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh’s camp and are learnt to be against the nomination of Vijayendra, second son of BJP Parliamentary Board member and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, as the state president. While Bellad and Yatnal, like Vijayendra, are from the Lingayat community, Ravi is a Vokkaliga.

Other BJP leaders who did not attend were former ministers V Somanna, K Sudhakar and Arvind Limbavali.

Former minister KS Eshwarappa, who had expressed reservations about the appointment of Vijayendra as the BJP state chief, took part in the event where outgoing president Nalin Kumar Kateel handed over the charge. “Even though there are small differences, we have addressed such issues before,” he said at the event.