Former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is set to take over as the Bharatiya Janata Party state unit president for the fourth time from April 14, calls himself a completely changed person.
“I am not the same old Yeddyurappa. I have changed my attitude by learning from the past experiences and mistakes. My focus now is to take everybody in the party together,” says the 73-year-old MP, who had to face intra-party dissidence when he was chief minister.
In an interview with The Hindu , he declares that his single-point agenda is to ensure that the party returns to power in the State in the 2018 Assembly elections with an absolute majority by winning 150 seats in the 224-member House. He wants to achieve this by infusing “aggression” into the party campaigns to effectively take on the Congress government and by reaching out to people among other political strategies.
Excerpts from the interview:
You had quit the party which you built brick-by-brick, returned to it and now heading it. Are you as comfortable as you were when you headed the party earlier?
I am definitely comfortable because everybody in the party is together in supporting me. I committed a mistake of quitting the Party for which I will apologise to people of Karnataka. Despite this, the Central leadership has reposed faith in me by giving this position. This has enhanced my political spirit.
Though you were the natural choice, why did the central leadership take time to make such an appointment?
They had made the decision long ago to appoint me considering the political situation in Karnataka which is witnessing maladministration by the Congress. However, they had to wait as the term of the then president Pralhad Joshi ended only about 15 days ago.
What is your immediate priority?
I have to strengthen the party organisation in a bid to ensure that it wins 150 seats in the next assembly elections from the present level of 44. It is a tough task no doubt, but definitely achievable if serious efforts are made. Of course it is not as tough as the situation in 2008 when we came to power for the first time in Karnataka. This is because the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah here has already become unpopular due to its corrupt practices and apathetic attitude towards problems of people.
What do you feel about the administration of Siddaramaiah government?
Where is the government? One can hardly feel its presence as the senior ministers and top-ranking officials have failed to respond to the problems of drought-hit areas. There is corruption everywhere including transfer of officials. The law and order situation has collapsed. The government has now formed the Anti-Corruption Bureau to undermine the Lokayukta just to protect the chief minister and senior ministers from charges of corruption.
How do you plan to strengthen the Party?
I want to take up aggressive campaigns against the government especially with respect to the failure to handle drought and formation of ACB. We will reach out to people through extensive tour of the State, especially the rural areas.
Efforts will be made to strengthen the party organisation in nine districts where we do not have any representation at all and another 13 districts where our representation is very thin. Also, several leaders are ready to return to the BJP while the leaders from the Congress and JD (S) are approaching us. A decision on whether to include them in the party fold will be taken in consultation with the party leaders in due course.
What are issues on which you are baking upon to strengthen the party?
We are mainly dependent upon the achievements of the NDA government at the Centre in the last two years, development works taken up by the previous BJP government in Karnataka and the misrule of the Congress government here.
But some of the Congress leaders including B. Janardhana Poojary have said that your appointment as president will strengthen the Congress as you have been facing charges of corruption.
They must understand that the courts have cleared me of most of the charges. I am confident of getting legal relief in the remaining cases too. Actually Congress does not have moral right to talk about corruption as its present dispensation is involved in a large scale corruption. This is the reason why they have formed the ACB to protect themselves. In fact, the government has refused to table the Anwar Manipady report as the report has found that senior Congress leaders are involved in encroachment and misuse of Wakf properties worth Rs. Seven lakh crore.
Is there any uncertainty on you getting the chief ministerial post even if you lead the party to victory in 2018 polls?
There is no uncertainty at all. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Party National President Amit Shah have declared me as the chief ministerial candidate.
Is there any plan to have an alliance with the JD(S)?
There is no need for any political alliance as we are confident of getting absolute majority on our own.
