The former Chief Minister and Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) president B.S. Yeddyurappa on Tuesday said there was no question of he returning to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the sole aim of his party was capturing Vidhana Soudha.
Speaking to presspersons here after declaration of results of the urban local bodies (ULBs), Mr. Yeddyurappa wished that BJP leaders, including those at the national level, understood his “capacity”. The KJP, having won 276 seats and getting over 50 independent candidates through its support, will contest all the 224 Assembly seats in the next polls, he declared.
Spiking rumours that he would return to the BJP, Mr. Yeddyurappa said he was not in touch with any BJP leader nor would he be available to them. He said a few party leaders conspired to get him out of BJP and the party (BJP) was now facing the consequences. The BJP has suffered humiliating defeat in its strongholds of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga and other districts. Its leaders, who had been making tall claims of party’s strength in the absence of Mr. Yeddyurappa, are now forced to find BJP’s footprints, he ridiculed.
Terming himself to be a stronger leader, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the KJP within a few months of its inception had made inroads into the electorate by winning considerable number of seats in ULBs. He said KJP’s first operation to weaken and destroy BJP had become successful and the next target was to “eliminate” the party in the Assembly elections.
A convention of all candidates of KJP who had contested ULB polls will be held at the Palace Grounds on March 14, Mr. Yeddyurappa said.
