The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) will not intervene directly to prevent the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa from leaving the BJP and forming a regional party. It will also not directly intervene to end the internal squabbles in the State unit of the BJP, according to Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar.
Mr. Suresh Kumar, who has his roots in the RSS, told presspersons in Gulbarga on Friday that the RSS leadership may give some suggestions to end the crisis in the BJP in the State and the RSS may not directly intervene in the issue.
He said that the RSS, which is involved in various activities, has its hand full and it may not play any role to end the crisis in the party now. He said, “It is also not its job.” Mr. Suresh Kumar, who for the first time spoke about the internal squabbles in the party, said that senior party leaders were trying to convince Mr. Yeddyurappa not to leave the party at this juncture.
Without giving the names of the leaders of the State and central party leaders involved in the talks with Mr. Yeddyurappa, he said that “we have been trying to tell Mr. Yeddyurappa that the BJP had firmly stood behind him during the crisis… we can feel the pain of Mr. Yeddyurappa… a capable and able leader like him can find a solution to all the problems by staying in the party.” Mr. Suresh Kumar said that all-out efforts were being made to persuade Mr. Yeddyurappa, who has built the party and helped it come to power in the State, not to leave the party and form a regional party. “Regional parties have no future and past experience has shown that those who started a regional party failed to make an impact as the people of the State have always stood by national parties,” he said.
He said that although he had respect for the feelings of Mr. Yeddyurappa, “I cannot accept all his statements. It is for the central party leadership to give a suitable position to him in the party.” Mr. Suresh Kumar admitted that the BJP leaders were not in a happy situation to answer all the questions raised by the people and being a principled political party, it cannot afford to be always immersed in its own problems. “The ordinary party worker at the grassroots is the one who is in an embarrassed position… nobody in a political party would like such a development to take place in the party,” he said.
He said that despite the party’s government doing some good work in the State, the image of the party has suffered due to internal squabbling.
“Not a single individual can be blamed for this… everybody in the party has to own responsibility,” he said.
“Mr. Yeddyurappa is part and parcel of the BJP and I have the confidence that he will not part company with the party, with which he has been associated for long,” he said.
