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It was a meeting organised to galvanise BJP’s rank and file in Karnataka following last month’s defeat in the Assembly elections but ended up underscoring how far the party is from setting its house in order in the only southern state where it has been in power.
On Sunday, both former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal were in Belagavi to address party workers amid an ongoing spat between factions of the state BJP over “adjustment politics”. BJP general secretary C T Ravi first raised this issue and party MP Pratap Simha seconded him. According to them, the BJP’s defeat in the Assembly polls is the result of an internal understanding between a section of the BJP and the Congress.
Training his guns at Bommai, Yatnal, the Bijapur City legislator known for speaking his mind, hit out at Bommai over Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s visit to his house on Friday. “Shivakumar visits (BJP Parliamentary Board member) B S Yediyurappa at his house, visits Bommai’s house. Do you know why he visits them? These are not courtesy visits. They are to send a message to Sonia Gandhi that if he is not made CM, he is in touch with BJP leaders.”
Yatnal came down hard on “adjustment politics”, saying: “All party workers know who did what, who tried to defeat whom, etc. Everything happened in our party. We don’t have to blame anyone else.”
Bommai, who spoke later at the event, dismissed claims of any compromise with the Congress. “I have not compromised in politics, nor will I. We can’t say no to people who want to visit our homes. It is a courtesy. (But) We won’t compromise anywhere,” he said.
Appearing to take a dig at Yatnal, the former CM said some people had compromised “without visiting homes (of any Opposition leaders). Everyone knows about that too.” But as the remarks appeared to reignite discussions on “adjustment politics”, Bommai played them down later in the day and struck a more conciliatory tone. “We have the same DNA, BJP DNA,” he told reporters, adding that he had clarified Yatnal’s remarks at the event.
Yatnal, 59, is considered the uncrowned king of political rhetoric in Karnataka’s northern districts where the dialect of Kannada and nuances of life and political humour differ from the southern parts. A two-time BJP Lok Sabha MP, Yatnal was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Union government between 2002 and 2004. Despite his rhetorical skills, several BJP insiders consider him “indisciplined” to hold high offices. Also, the MLA does not have roots in the Sangh Parivar, unlike his counterparts. He was once considered down and out in the BJP when he quit the party to join the Janata Dal (Secular), miffed at not being made a minister in the first Yediyurappa-led government. He rejoined the party in 2013 but was expelled in 2015 for anti-party activities. He went on to emerge as a prominent face in the BJP from 2018 when Yediyurappa took him back into the party fold.
At Sunday’s meeting, he also targeted Shivakumar and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, saying, “This is not a government that will last for five years. Siddaramaiah won’t leave (the CM chair after two-and-a-half years) and D K Shivakumar will persist. They will hit each other with slippers.”
On Monday, senior BJP leader and former minister K S Eshwarappa blamed “Congress influence” for “indiscipline in the party”. He said, “It is unfortunate that such a discussion which should take place within four walls, is going on in public. I have urged the state president to talk to these leaders and put an end to this. I also request leaders not to make any public statements, that hurts this disciplined party.”
Some Congress traits, such as indiscipline, were now affecting the BJP too “as many leaders of their party have joined us”, he added.
During the day, there was also a scuffle between two groups of BJP workers in Bagalkot district during a meeting. The fight broke out as a group of party workers demanded that those responsible for anti-party activities be expelled from the party. Differences surfaced even before the meeting started, as groups affiliated with MLC P H Pujar and former MLA Veeranna Charantimath had a heated exchange. At the event attended by Bommai, one group started raising slogans even as Charanthimath tried to control his irate supporters. In the process, the former MLA blamed a few local leaders for the defeat of BJP candidates in the Assembly polls. When a few of them tried to offer an explanation they were sent out of the meeting even as the sloganeering continued.
Earlier this month, Simha attacked the previous BJP governments led by Yediyurappa and Bommai for failing to act on allegations of corruption against Congress leaders during Siddaramaiah’s first term as CM from 2013 to 2018. He alleged that the BJP governments went soft on Congress leaders as part of an “I scratch your back and you scratch mine” arrangement. Such shortcomings cost the BJP in the polls, he claimed. These statements emerged from leaders seen as aligned to the camp of BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh. In response, leaders aligned with Yediyurappa accused their rivals in the party of taking unilateral decisions that hurt the party’s prospects.
As a result of this simmering tension in the Karnataka BJP, the party has failed to name the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly more than a month since the poll results were announced. Bommai was counted among the frontrunners for the post but recently ruled himself out of the race. Speculation among party insiders suggests that Yatnal or former minister V Sunil Kumar could be appointed to the post ahead of the coming session of the legislature starting July 4.
