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Despite stiff opposition from several quarters in the Karnataka BJP, the party’s central leadership appears to be leaning in favour of B Y Vijayendra to continue as the state president. A senior central leader told The Indian Express, “He has not completed his term as party president and we think that he has more to offer.”
Vijayendra, the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, was appointed the party president in November 2023, soon after the BJP lost the Assembly elections. While there was no term stipulated for his presidency in the appointment letter signed by national party president J P Nadda, typically, the BJP’s state presidents remain in office for three years. Vijayendra’s predecessor, Nalin Kumar Kateel, had held office for over four years after his term was extended during the Assembly polls.
Vijayendra’s troubles started when two senior party leaders in Karnataka – Vijayapura MLA and former Union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi – began to oppose his leadership publicly. This year, as other leaders, including former Union minister G M Siddeshwara, came out in support of the two rebels, the rifts within the party only widened.
While the rebels have dubbed Vijayendra inexperienced and a “junior” in rank compared to several senior party leaders, including Jagadish Shettar, Yatnal has said Vijayendra stands for “dynasty politics” and should be removed. “There are some eight to 12 party leaders who are against Vijayendra’s candidature and they have raised a storm against him in the state unit,” a BJP insider said, adding this has made the central leadership hesitant about openly supporting him.
However, the BJP’s central leadership sent a message when it served a show-cause notice to Yatnal recently, days after he camped in Delhi seeking to oust Vijayendra. “The show-cause notice to Yatnal is a clear indication that Yatnal is still considered a rebel within the party,” a senior BJP leader said. Yatnal was still to reply to the notice, with the deadline having passed on Thursday.
While Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said elections for the state chief’s post could be held soon, there are several factors favouring Vijayendra. One that elections are rarely held for the post, and it usually implies selection by the central leadership. Plus, the caste factor. Here, Vijayendra is at an advantage because he is a Lingayat leader, and Yediyurappa remains the tallest leader of the community in the BJP, with appeal among other dominant and backward communities as well. “Yediyurappa is known to have retained the Lingayat vote, attracted the Vokkaliga votes and multiplied the backward class votes for the BJP,” a leader from the Yediyurappa camp said.
A source close to Vijayendra said there was another thing that went in Vijayendra’s favour: “He is young and he is tough.”
The biggest challenge before the central leadership is that whoever they select for the state president’s post is likely to lead the Karnataka BJP in the 2028 Assembly polls, which the party would want to win having lost the state to the Congress in 2023. “Vijayendra is likely to be given a chance to complete his term of three years, after which there could be a referendum on his performance when the elections are near,” a senior BJP leader said.
The Yediyurappa-Vijayendra camp has also been giving the 2028 elections as a reason to keep Vijayendra around. “Once he is re-elected as state president, the majority of those who are opposing him will fall in line,” a Yediyurappa supporter said.
