Weeks after the Union Cabinet reshuffle signalled a generational change within the BJP, the occasion on Monday managed to impact a transition in Karnataka, with B S Yediyurappa stepping down as chief minister and leaving the succession race large open.
With reminiscences intact of 2012 — when the Lingayat heavyweight had walked out of the occasion, wrecking the BJP’s political fortunes within the state — this time, the BJP management is treading rigorously because it seems to be for a candidate who can lead the occasion into the subsequent election in 2023, conscious that it could solely achieve this with the 78-year-old veteran’s blessings.
Party leaders indicated that “the leadership will consider Yediyurappa’s preferences” whereas selecting his successor. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan would be the occasion’s central observer to supervise the election of the brand new chief.
“We have to assess the tone and mood before finalising a successor. The party will send an observer for the election of the new leader, who will be chosen this week. The decision will be taken after discussions at both the central and state levels,” mentioned a high chief of the BJP.
Party leaders have been divided of their responses when requested if the brand new CM can be from the Lingayat neighborhood.
One chief identified that Yediyurappa, who desires to “accommodate his son B Y Vijayendra before quitting”, is eager on retaining the Lingayat management inside his household, and therefore, may go for a non-Lingayat chief. “But the party is moving cautiously because we don’t want to upset the Lingayats who form a major part of our support base,” the chief mentioned.
In 2012, after Yediyurappa stop the BJP, he had fashioned the Karnataka Janata Paksha, which pushed the BJP into third place within the 2013 Assembly elections.
While many names of potential CM candidates are doing the rounds, together with that of Murugesh Nirani, the Mining Minister within the Yediyurappa Cabinet and a Lingayat face, a reputation that has generated appreciable buzz within the nationwide capital is that of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi. Not a Lingayat chief, Joshi, sources mentioned, might not be opposed by Yediyurappa.
Despite his advancing age, Yediyurappa — a pacesetter who grew in nationwide stature within the pre-Narendra Modi-Amit Shah period and for whom the occasion put aside its 75-years age bar — is just not somebody whom the occasion can ignore even after he ceases to be CM, identified a senior BJP chief who’s acquainted with the developments in Karnataka.
Which is why, not like in 2011, when the occasion despatched a battery of central leaders to ask him to resign as his identify received embroiled in an unlawful mining case, this time, the BJP central management didn’t make any feedback in opposition to Yediyurappa nor did it ship any chief to the state on the day he introduced his resignation. In reality, each Arun Singh, basic secretary in control of Karnataka, and BJP president J P Nadda stored saying Yediyurappa was doing a “good job”.
Perhaps the final of the BJP chief ministers who didn’t have to piggyback on both Hindutva politics or Modi’s charisma to win an election, Yediyurappa has at all times been an element within the BJP’s success within the southern state. In reality, the BJP’s fortunes within the states have intently mirrored the rise and fall of Yediyurappa within the occasion.
Unlike many different leaders of the current BJP, Yediyurappa was by no means a Hindutva poster boy. Instead, he was primarily a farmer chief who managed to get his assist base aligned with the cultural and nationalist ethos of the BJP. Under him, the BJP witnessed a gradual progress within the state amidst the upheaval within the politics of the Janata Dal and Congress.
“Yediyurappa took the BJP from urban areas to the villages. He played a role in crafting a pole away from the Congress and helped in stabilising that pole,” senior BJP chief P Muralidhar Rao, who was earlier in control of Karnataka, informed The Indian Express.
Yet, occasion leaders mentioned that with elections two years later, the choice to exchange him with a contemporary face is a “good political move” as a result of, as a senior chief mentioned, “Yediyurappa cannot lead the party into another election after two years. The party cannot afford to go to polls with a new CM face after having Yediyurappa for four years. This is the right time for change and to prepare the party for the post-2023 period,” mentioned a senior occasion chief.
However, the most recent developments within the state, particularly the protests by Lingayat leaders in opposition to eradicating Yediyurappa, haven’t gone down effectively with the BJP management. Though Yediyurappa himself appealed to his protesting supporters, a piece within the central management believes the protests could have been “stage-managed.” “The BJP would not like to be held to ransom by anyone whoever that may be,” mentioned a senior occasion chief.
