Taking a tough stand against his disgruntled party colleagues, who are publicly accusing him of taking unilateral decisions on the appointment of office-bearers, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party president B.S. Yeddyurappa on Saturday warned them of disciplinary action.
‘No’ to public statements
“Some people are indulging in anti-party activities through public statements, which are giving scope to confusion. This cannot be pardoned irrespective of the stature of the leader, who is issuing such statements,” Mr. Yeddyurappa said, in an obvious reference to K.S. Eshwarappa, who has been vocal about the matter.
“If there are any contentious issues, the leaders should resolve them by discussing them with me instead of making public statements,” he said, while addressing the inaugural session of a meeting of the State office-bearers, legislators and MPs here.
He said he would constitute a disciplinary committee soon to address such issues.
He reminded party leaders and the cadre that they had the responsibility of maintaining unity at a time when the other two main political parties — the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) — were indulging in internal squabbling.
Even as the disgruntled party old-timers have accused him of making appointments to the State and district office-bearers’ team without consulting senior party leaders or the State core committee, Mr. Yeddyurappa maintained that “good workers” had been appointed to the teams.
Mr. Eshwarappa did not attend the meeting. He has demanded that the party’s highest decision making body hold a meeting to take stock of the situation.