BJP puts up its price on BS Yeddyurappa

The State unit of BJP has blocked the efforts of a section of party leaders to bring back BS Yeddyurappa to the party fold, in the backdrop of Lok Sabha elections due next year.

Thawar Chand Gehlot, party general secretary in charge of Karnataka, on Saturday said that if the former chief minister wanted to join the BJP he could do so by sending a proposal to the party, dampening the enthusiasm of Yeddyurappa’s supporters who have stayed on in the BJP and who wanted him back in the fold.

Speaking with reporters at the party office after attending the party core committee meeting, Gehlot maintained that the party would take a decision on readmitting Yeddyurappa only after getting a proposal from him. When asked if the party would find the going tough in the Lok Sabha elections without Yeddyurappa, Gehlot replied that the party is “strong”.

“Yeddyurappa left the party by himself and let him come back. Once he sends proposal, the state unit as well as the central parliamentary board of BJP will discuss the matter,” he added.

Gehlot’s blunt statement amounts to slamming the door on Yeddyurappa, as the former chief minister, a proud man, would never approach the party which he believes he built from the scratch in Karnataka.

The tough stance adopted by the core committee is seen as a victory for party general secretary Ananth Kumar, who has been accused by Yeddyurappa as having engineered his exit from the BJP.

The core committee comprising of Ananth Kumar supporters including former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, former ministers R Ashoka, KS Eshwarappa and party president Prahlad Joshi not only opposed the re-entry of Yeddyurappa into the party, but prevented the group supporting the former chief minister from approaching the central leaders.

DV Sadananda Gowda, who alone supported the idea of bringing back Yeddyurappa to the BJP,  left the meeting half way through. “The party should take a call on the issue as early as possible as the confusion prevails among the workers. I am not batting or bowling for any one. I am talking in the interest of the party and I feel that Yeddyurappa can strengthen the party,” he explained.