Upset over the delay in their re-induction into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), some prominent followers of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who are with the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), appear to be planning to join the Janata Dal (Secular) while others are keeping their options open.
The displeased leaders, who held a meeting on Friday, resolved to take a call on their course of political action by Monday if they are not readmitted into the BJP honourably.
V. Dhananjaya Kumar, one of the prominent KJP leaders who stood with Mr. Yeddyurappa in his times of crisis, told The Hindu that he met JD(S) national president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Friday to discuss the issue. Having got a positive response from Mr. Gowda, the KJP leaders have set a deadline of Monday to the BJP to honourably readmit them into the party.
Mr. Kumar said Mr. Yeddyurappa appeared helpless to take his followers into the BJP fold. He had been promising his followers that they would be taken into the BJP, but nothing had happened on that front.
BJP MLC M.D. Lakshminarayana, a staunch follower of Mr. Yeddyurappa, who also attended the meeting, said not all were mentally prepared to join the JD(S). “I’m still hopeful that the BJP leadership would revoke the suspension of Mr. Kumar, Lehar Singh, G. Basavaraj and Rajendra Gokhale,” he said. A final decision would be taken by Monday after all the leaders express their opinion, he said.
‘Vested interests’Mr. Kumar said the Karnataka unit of the BJP was being controlled by a few people with vested interests. “On several occasions, I had spoken against BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar and had sought to know his contribution to Bangalore and Karnataka being a five-time Lok Sabha member and Union Minister,” he said.
“These words were, however, twisted to mean that I had spoken against BJP patriarch L.K. Advani. Unfortunately, Mr. Ananth Kumar is one among the decision-makers in the State BJP unit and preventing our re-entry,” he said.
