Disgruntled BJP leaders snub BSY; boycott conciliatory meet

Keep Yeddyurappa and three State general secretaries waiting at party office

The differences between BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa and some party old-timers reached a boiling point on Thursday, with them boycotting a meeting convened by him.

The disgruntled leaders, who had written to Mr. Yeddyurappa expressing dissatisfaction over his style of functioning, kept him and three of State general secretaries waiting at the party office, and eventually did not turn up.

Upset with this, BJP State general secretary Arvind Limbavali warned of stringent action “in consultation with the Central leadership” if they continued to issue media statements against Mr. Yeddyurappa and party affairs.

The demands

The leaders had shot off a letter to Mr. Yeddyurappa a few days ago accusing him of making unilateral appointments to the team of office-bearers and other key posts. They wanted him to revise the appointments and also withdraw the show cause notices issued to former Minister Sogadu Shivanna and Tumakuru district unit leader M.B. Nandish.

While the letter mentioned the names of 24 leaders as signatories, the party had maintained that 10 of them had clarified that they had not signed the letter. The remaining had been invited by Mr. Yeddyurappa for consultations as part of efforts to resolve the differences.

Another letter

Meanwhile, sources said that the leaders, who kept away from the conciliatory meeting, had written to Mr. Yeddyurappa informing him about their decision to abstain from the meeting.

They asked what purpose the meeting would serve when Mr. Yeddyurappa had already declared that there was no question of changing the office-bearers.

Expressing anger over their absence at the meeting, Mr. Limbavali accused them of being merely interested in creating confusion through media statements. The party had brought the issue to the notice of the Central leaders, he said, and also tendered an apology to the public for the confusion.

Meanwhile, sources close to Mr. Yeddyurappa maintained that the leaders did not turn up for the meeting as they did not have enough numbers on their side.