Pre-empting BJP, dynasty charge, BSY gives up Shikaripura for son Vijayendra

“Please support Vijayendra in the same manner that you have supported me. Help him to win by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes and affirm the development work we have done in this region. I will be travelling soon to the villages with Vijayendra to seek support for him,” said the 79-year-old Lingayat stalwart who has been a seven-time MLA from Shikaripura.

His announcement has come at a time when the BJP leadership has refused to budge from its stance that it cannot consider Vijayendra’s poll candidature because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch against dynastic politics, pointing to the existing position of Yediyurappa and his elder son B Y Raghavendra, 48, as the Shikaripura MLA and the Shivamogga MP, respectively.

Vijayendra, 45, has been attempting to make a mark in Karnataka politics for over five years now. The BJP had rejected his demand to be fielded from the Varuna seat in the Mysore region in the 2018 Assembly polls. In May this year, the party thwarted his bid for an MLC nomination in order to join the Basavaraj Bommai-led party government in the final year of its tenure.

Significantly, Yediyurappa’s move to unilaterally declare his son’s candidature from Shikaripura as his replacement is being seen in state political circles as his attempt to pre-empt the BJP’s denial of a ticket for Vijayendra in the coming Assembly polls.

Shivamogga is known to be the Yediyurappa family’s pocket borough. After Yediyurappa was elected to the Lok Sabha from Shivamogga in the 2014 general elections, the vacant Shikaripura seat was won by Raghavendra in the ensuing bypoll.

Since 1983 the Shikaripura seat has been held by the Yediyurappa family, barring 1999.

The Shivamogga constituency has been continuously clinched by Yediyurappa or Raghavendra since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Before the BJP put its foot down by flagging dynastic politics against the Yediyurappa family several months ago, there had been speculation that one of his three daughters may replace him in Shikaripura when he steps aside with Vijayendra expected to enter the poll fray from the old Mysuru region.

Although Yediyurappa still retains a lot of clout in Karnataka’s Lingayat community he has fallen out of favour with the BJP central leadership on account of corruption allegations against him and for allowing Vijayendra to call the shots in the government during his latest tenure as the CM in 2019-2021.

Yediyurappa’s move to project Vijayendra as his substitute in Shikaripura has come at a time when the BJP leadership is set to carry out major organisational changes in its Karnataka unit over the next few weeks as the current state party president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s term will

come to an end in August. There has also been a buzz that the BJP may elevate Vijayendra from his existing position of state party vice-president to general secretary for the 2023 polls.

The ruling BJP would however also need Yediyurappa’s campaigning in the coming polls

as it looks to retain power by securing a clear majority in the 224-member state Assembly. “He (Yediurappa) is not retiring from active politics. He will remain in politics. He will not contest the Shikaripura seat,” Vijayendra told reporters Friday.

The BJP heavyweight however also drew flak from some BJP leaders, such as H Vishwanath, who said he should step aside to allow a party worker to contest from Shikaripura in sync with the BJP’s anti-dynastic politics policy.

BJP sources had said earlier this year that Vijayendra was getting desperate to gain a foothold in the government while his father remained a political force amid their fears that investigating agencies may close in on their family if they do not have positions of power.

Vijayendra is considered to be Yediurappa’s political heir even though he is yet to prove his own mettle in electoral politics despite being a campaign head for many BJP candidates over the last few years.

In May this year, Vijayendra camped in Delhi for several days to try and convince the BJP leadership to move away from its stand against dynastic politics in his case. The rejection of his candidature in the 2018 Assembly and the 2022 parliamentary polls may strengthen his claim over an party ticket in the 2023 polls in the event of his father’s exit from the fray.

He has also been encouraged by the BJP central leaders that he would play a “bigger role” in the party ahead. He was praised by Union home minister Amit Shah after he organised a major Lingayat event in Tumkur in April.

Vijayendra, however, also carries the baggage of playing the alleged role of a “super CM” during his father’s chief ministerial tenure. This has also drawn corruption allegations against him in government appointments and awarding of state contracts. One of the key reasons the BJP removed Yediyurappa as the CM in July 2021 is believed to be his son’s “interference” in his administration.