Gadkari punctures Yeddyurappa’s hopes

BJP national president Nitin Gadkari on Thursday delivered a big blow for former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s ambition to become the state BJP president as Gadkari made it clear that “no individual is bigger than the party. We cannot allow anyone to turn BJP into a family company.”

Addressing the BJP National Council meeting at Surajkund in Haryana, Gadkari, without taking any names called upon his partymen not to encourage the culture of nursing personal ambitions at the cost of the party. He came down heavily against sycophancy.

Nobody is bigger than the party. It is the party that has turned ordinary workers into big leaders. The party will reward those working hard and nobody should feel that he or she is bigger than the party, he said.

Gadkari’s address has sent firm signals for Yeddyurappa’s camp that the former chief minister’s pressure tactics would not be tolerated. State BJP president KS Eshwarappa, who is among those who are demanding the party high command to take a hard stand against Yeddyurappa, echoed Gadkari’s stand by stating that, “we are all party workers first and leaders next. Nobody could dictate terms to the party. We are non entities without the party.”

Sensing that the developments in Surajkund were going against Yeddyurappa, his loyalists held a meeting to discuss the issue at PWD minister CM Udasi’s residence in Bangalore on Thursday. Water resource minister Basavaraj Bommai and excise minister MP Renukacharya were among the Yeddyurappa loyalists who attended the meeting.

According to sources, Yeddyurappa loyalists are contemplating to head to Delhi in the next few days as part of a last ditch effort to lobby in favour of Yeddyurappa with the party national leaders. The loyalists want the party to retain Yeddyurappa within the party at any cost as “only he is able to lead the party to victory in the next assembly election.”