BSY hand in BJP’s 3rd seat win in Karnataka RS polls

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, June 15: Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa was instrumental in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s bagging an extra Rajya Sabha seat in the just concluded elections.

Sources in the Karnataka BJP said that Yediyurappa while staying behind the curtains ensured that there was no cross-voting on the parts of the party MLAs even while the JD (S) made determined bid to back D Kupendra Reddy, the wealthiest candidate in the fray with assets worth Rs 815 crores.

The BJP won three Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka with the party nominees Nirmala Sitharaman, Jaggesh, and Lehar Singh Siroya winning their elections for the Upper House comfortably.

On the strength of the MLAs in the Assembly, the BJP would have won two seats. But the party fielded a third candidate as part of the party’s established norm to force a contest to make the best efforts to win additional seats in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP could win the third seats because of the cross-voting on the part of the JD (S) MLAs.

Given that the Karnataka unit of the BJP is known to be faction-ridden, the JD (S) was banking on the cross-voting on the parts of the MLAs from the saffron outfit and the Congress.

The state BJP leaders said that Yediyurappa held fort and kept the party flock of the MLAs intact as most of them are his followers. Yediyurappa continues to be politically active and is working for the organisation without taking the limelight, said a senior BJP functionary.

He stated that Yediyurappa is the most sought after BJP leaders in the state by the party workers who reach out to him for any work, grievances and guidance.

The Karnataka unit of the BJP has three poles, with Yediyurappa, the party’s national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh and the state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai being the power centres, sources said.

While Yediyurappa remains active with the party works, the BJP had denied his son Vijayendra the nomination for the elections for the member of the legislative council (MLC) recently.

One of the senior state BJP functionaries said that Yediyurappa, who is popularly called BSY, remains unaffected by the decisions of the Central party leadership.

Incidentally, Santhosh is known to be a political rival of Yediyurappa in the state politics.

But the Karnataka politics is known to be influenced by the sentiments of the Lingayata and the Vokkaliga communities. Yediyurappa still remains the tallest Lingayata leader from the ranks of the BJP in the state, added the BJP functionary.

CM Bommai is also from the Lingayata community while the JD (S) claims to enjoy the support base among the Vokkaliga community.

Karnataka Assembly elections would be held in April next year and the BJP would be banking on Yediyurappa to hold on to the support base of the Lingayata community to beat the anti-incumbency.

Sources also said that CM Bommai continues to take advices and suggestions from Yediyurappa in running the affairs of the state administration while also ensuring political stability in the state.

While the BJP has begun the poll preparations for the Karnataka Assembly polls, Yediyurappa is learnt to be nursing his support base in the state and will actively campaign for the party, added the BJP functionary.