Countdown begins for BSY return to BJP

“In the interest of the state party,in the interest of the country and (in view of the) Lok Sabha polls,we have placed before the national leadership that to avoid division of anti-Congress votes,it is better that we take back Yeddyurappa,” Joshi told reporters after the meeting.

“We have requested him (Rajnath) to start the process of re-inducting Yeddyurappa,” he said.

Yeddyurappa quit the BJP in December 2012 after he was forced to step down as the chief minister following corruption charges levelled against him in a Karnataka Lokayukta report on illegal mining. He contested the state Assembly elections in May this year under the banner of the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).

Though the KJP won only six of the 224 seats,it cornered about 10 per cent of the popular vote adversely impacting BJP performance,especially in the Lingayat belt in north Karnataka,and paving the way for a Congress return to power.

The state BJP unit does not want a repeat in the Lok Sabha polls. While Yeddyurappa has maintained that the KJP can be a constituent of the BJP-led NDA,Karnataka BJP leaders believe this may not help achieve consolidation of support base. They want the Lingayat strongman brought back to effectively counter the Congress in parliament elections.

The Yeddyurappa camp said there was no official invite from the BJP but indicated they were expecting a call by December 9.

“There is no official communication inviting me back. When such an invitation comes we will discuss it among our party (KJP) leaders and take an appropriate decision,’’ Yeddyurappa said from Belgaum,where the winter session of the state legislature is under way.

“We have seen reports that Yeddyurappaji has been invited back to the BJP. This is all speculation. We are waiting for a call from Arun Jaitley who has to decide on this issue,’’ a close aide of Yeddyurappa said.

“We have not set conditions for a return,” the aide said.

The return of the former chief minister is being talked about ever since Narendra Modi was anointed the BJP prime minister candidate in August. Yeddyurappa had welcomed the decision and extended support to Modi.

The elevation of the Gujarat Chief Minister was seen by the Yeddyurappa camp as a sign of waning powers of L K Advani,who was reportedly instrumental in forcing the Lingayat strongman to step down as CM.

A three-member team of Karnataka BJP legislators considered close to Yeddyurappa,including former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda,had held parleys with Modi in Ahmedabad on September 2 on the possibility of the KJP chief’s early return to the saffron party.

The stage was set when Rajnath said in Mumbai in October that “the issue will be decided in the central parliamentary board”.

The return has been delayed as Ananth Kumar and other rivals of Yeddyurappa do not want the BJP to give him too much authority and too much say in candidate selection for the Lok Sabha polls.

But now things appear to be falling in place for the former CM with rivals too realising that without him defeating the Congress will not be easy.

The return of Yeddyurappa is widely seen in political circles as being crucial to the fortunes of the BJP,which had won 19 of the 28 parliamentary seats in Karnataka under his leadership in 2009.

Yeddyurappa has over the past month been involved in a prolonged agitation against a state government scheme to finance weddings of poor Muslim women. The agitation was seen as a desperate effort to grab the attention of the BJP national leadership.