Bengaluru, Apr 30 (DHNS): BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao on Saturday began gathering information about the ongoing feud between senior party leaders B S Yeddyurappa and K S Eshwarappa.Sent by BJP national president Amit Shah to assess the situation in Karnataka, Rao landed in Bengaluru in the evening.
He immediately called state office-bearers to the BJP headquarters in Malleswaram and held one-on-one discussions. Rao, in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, will submit his report to Shah sometime next week.
What triggered bout
According to sources, Rao wanted to know what triggered the fresh bout between BJP state president Yeddyurappa and party leader Eshwarappa, so soon after Shah had come up with a patch-up formula in January. Some functionaries close to Yeddyurappa said Eshwarappa’s tirades were casting a shadow on the party’s prospects in the Assembly elections coming up in a year.
P Muralidhar Rao
Others endorsed Eshwarappa’s view that Yeddyurappa was taking unilateral decisions. Rao sought their views on Yeddyurappa’s charge that BJP national joint general secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh was masterminding the rift.
On Sunday, Rao is slated to meet functionaries appointed to various morchas. “We will resolve all issues,” Rao told reporters, but declined to answer any queries.
Among those who got individual time with Rao were R Ashoka, Ayanur Manjunath, C M Udasi, B Sriramulu, Ravi Subramanya, D S Veeraiah, Bharathi Shetty and Belur Gopalakrishna.
Eshwarappa has been critical of Yeddyurappa’s style of functioning and has blamed him for bringing down the morale of party workers.
MLAs in the Yeddyurappa camp want Eshwarappa to step down as the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. They say he has been misusing his position to carry out a campaign against the state party chief.
BSY meets Rao
Yeddyurappa, who arrived in Bengaluru from Delhi on Saturday, met Rao late in the evening. He later left for Shivamogga.
In Delhi, Yeddyurappa had tried to meet general secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal and brief him about Eshwarappa’s rebellion. However, the meeting did not take place. Yeddyurappa has already sent a report to the central leadership about the rebel convention organised by Eshwarappa earlier this week.
Go ahead to drop 2 vice presidents?
In a late-night development, Muralidhar Rao is said to have given the go ahead to drop party vice presidents M B Bhanuprakash and Nirmal Kumar Surana from the list of state office-bearers.
Bhanuprakash and Surana had participated in the convention at Palace Grounds in the city and had spoken against Yeddyurappa. Party sources said BJP co-spokesperson G Madhusudhan and Raitha Morcha vice president M P Renukacharya have been divested of their posts for making comments against BJP national joint general secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh.