[ad_1]
 "BS Yediyurappa")
Whether selecting candidates or quelling dissent in multiple constituencies, the party’s 81-year-old central election committee member is seen as the “man of the season” | stock image
BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa is out of power and electoral politics for sure, but his influence in the party’s affairs in Karnataka has not diminished as its central leadership appears to be once again turning to this experienced rower for get results in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Whether selecting candidates or quelling dissent in multiple constituencies, the 81-year-old member of the party’s central election committee is seen as the “man of the season.”
Indeed, the stakes are high for the BJP Parliamentary Board member as he will have to ensure that his son BY Vijayendra consolidates his position as the party’s state president and silence critics who have questioned his selection for the post by ignoring the affirmations from experienced hands.
BJP central leaders are seeking to put the octogenarian, who has already announced his retirement from electoral politics, on the pedestal, making him a key electoral mascot in the state, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is not difficult to find the reasons why Yediyurappa has been pushed to the top of the party’s electoral table.
The four-time Chief Minister, who built the party from the grassroots, has a mass appeal and connection particularly among the politically influential Lingayat community that no other party leader in the State has.
It is now quite evident from the BJP’s scheme that the party is keen on harnessing the ‘Yediyurappa factor’ and positioning him as the poster boy to reap rich electoral dividends.
None other than the Prime Minister himself profusely praised Yediyurappa in his home district of Shivamogga during his public meeting earlier this month.
“Shivamogga is a special land, when no one knew about us during Jana Sangh days, when we had no members even at the municipal level, at that time Yediyurappa ji spent his prime here. This is his ‘Tapobhoomi’,” he had Modi said.
According to some political observers and BJP members, the party tried to sideline Yediyurappa in the Assembly elections in May last year.
The BJP was ousted from power by the Congress and could win only 66 seats in the 224-member Assembly.
The issue of corruption, the consolidation of minority votes behind the Congress and the alienation of a section of Lingayats from the BJP were considered among the key factors in their defeat.
Vijayendra was appointed president of the state unit in November last year, and the party once again trusted Yediyurappa.
Yediyurappa’s footprint is clearly visible in the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls as he secured tickets for his elder son BY Raghavendra in Shimoga and several loyalists including Shobha Karandlaje in Bengaluru North, Gayatri Siddeshwara , wife of MP GM Siddeshwara, in Davangere, former CM Basavaraj Bommai in Haveri and Govind M Karjol in Chitradurga.
He is also said to have played a key role in electing the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, to the Mysore seat, replacing MP Prathap Simha.
However, Yediyurappa also had to face the reaction of several aspirants, who did not get the ticket.
Several senior leaders like JC Madhuswamy from Tumakuru, former MLAs Renukacharya and SA Ravindranatha from Chitradurga, MP Karadi Sanganna from Koppal and some party leaders from Belagavi had openly expressed their anguish against him for not endorsing their candidature.
The party also faced dissent in constituencies like Bidar and Chitradurga, among others. Veteran party leader KS Eshwarappa has rebelled and announced that he will contest as an independent from Shivamogga, where Raghavendra is the candidate. He has blamed Yediyurappa for his son KE Kantesh not receiving a fine from neighbor Haveri.
Yediyurappa has reached out to disgruntled leaders and met some of them personally.
According to a party functionary, “The Yediyurappa factor has been largely beneficial for the BJP, but it has also affected negatively at times. It is like a double-edged sword. His influence and appeal within the party and among the voters, especially the Lingayats, It cannot be denied.
At the same time, this has also led to conflict and divisions within the party, amid accusations of nepotism and favoritism.”
“The Yediyurappa factor obviously means strong leadership and mass appeal, but too much dependence on it, focusing on Lingayat votes, has somewhat limited the party in expanding its social base among other communities like Vokkaligas,” he said. . “The party has seen its negative effects at the electoral level, since it has never been able to achieve a majority in the state on its own.”
Noting that Yediyurappa is unarguably the “chief architect” of the BJP in Karnataka, with the support of other leaders like Eshwarappa and the late HN Ananth Kumar, another party leader said: “Apart from controversies and corruption allegations, under his leadership, the party has performed well. “In successive elections and whenever he has been sidelined, his performance has been weak. This may be in the mind of the central leadership to resort to him again and again.”
During the 2023 Assembly elections too, the BJP initially tried its best to secure Lingayat support without Yediyurappa, but it did not have much confidence in it, and in the later stages it had to rope in the veteran leader, a senior leader said. party, adding that efforts to cultivate support from some other communities also gave the desired results.
Yediyurappa resigned as Chief Minister on 26 July 2021. Age was cited as a major factor for his departure from the top job, with an unwritten rule in the BJP excluding those above 75 years of age from elected office. Also, the BJP central leadership wanted to usher in new leadership before the Assembly elections.
Ahead of the assembly elections, Yediyurappa announced his retirement from electoral politics.
The BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections, winning 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while an independent backed by the party also emerged victorious.
(Only the title and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: March 31, 2024 | 09:32 IS
