Even as the Karnataka Janata Paksha State president and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was busy with his efforts to destabilise the Bharatiya Janata Party government through the resignations of the rebel MLAs on Tuesday, his own political outfit plunged into chaos for a brief period following reports of an internal crisis.
The confusion started with the circulation of copies of the letter written to the Election Commission of India on January 3 by KJP founder president Padmanabha Prasanna Kumar stating that the party’s emergency executive committee that met on December 20 had expelled Mr. Yeddyurappa and appointed him (Mr. Kumar) as the State president.
This triggered chaos as several TV channels aired the contents of the letter. Within hours, the KJP removed Mr. Kumar from the party.
KJP State general secretary Rajendra Gokhale issued a press release terming the reports of Mr. Yeddyurappa’s expulsion as “false”. He alleged that such reports were being fabricated by the Opposition parties, which were unable to tolerate the progress of the KJP.
Indicating that Mr. Kumar did not have powers to sack Mr. Yeddyurappa, he said the Election Commission had stated in a letter dated January 15 that the KJP constitution did not provide for him to hold the post of the “main founder president of the party”.
Mr. Gokhale also furnished a copy of the Election Commission’s letter in this regard to support his point.
However, the episode has shown that even the newly formed KJP is not free from infighting.
