The floor test on Saturday turned out to be a political forum for B.S. Yeddyurappa to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Desisting from moving the trust vote, the BJP leader opted to step down by declaring that he would work towards making a clean sweep of all 28 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
In his nearly 25-minute speech, Mr. Yeddyurappa said he would tour the State and explain to people about the circumstances under which he had to quit as Chief Minister despite the BJP emerging as the single largest party.
He described the alliance between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) as “opportunistic” that would turn out to be detrimental to democratic principles.
Maintaining that he would have changed the picture of Karnataka had his party got the simple majority of 113 seats, he said he had hoped that several MLAs from the Opposition would support him. “But the party’s efforts to reach out to them failed as their leaders kept them in captivity much against democratic norms,” he said.
Expressing concern over the huge number of farmers’ suicides in the State, the BJP leader said his main intention of taking oath as Chief Minister was to revive the farm sector through various measures, including waiving farm loans up to ₹1 lakh and earmarking ₹1.5 lakh crore of funds for completing irrigation projects.
Regretting that such an effort had been foiled, he declared that the BJP would come back to power on its own by winning 150 seats to complete such tasks. He also predicted mid-term polls by remarking that there is no surprise if the elections are held for the Assembly within two years itself.
“Till my last breath, I will continue to work for farmers and the poor,” he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders are seeking to compare Mr. Yeddyurappa’s resignation from the Chief Ministerial post to that of the then Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee in 1996.
A message to the party?
The 75-year-old B.S. Yeddyurappa, on Saturday, not only gave a political message to rival parties, but also to his own partymen. Because, his remarks that the “BJP will come back to power on its own by winning 150 seats and that he still has energy to continue for another 10 years” are being seen as a message that he would continue to remain at the helm of affairs in the party for some more time.
His remarks have assumed importance in the wake of political circles speculating that his stepping down from the Chief Ministerial post could well be his last opportunity at the helm of affairs owing to his age.
