A year after it forced him to resign as the chief minister of Karnataka, the BJP seems to have reevaluated its stance on BS Yediyurappa’s relevance in politics.
The saffron party on Wednesday, 17 August, reconstituted its highest decision-making body — the Parliamentary Board — and picked BS Yediyurappa as one of its newest members.
The BJP’s national general secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh is the other leader from Karnataka to be part of the board.
BJP Rajya Sabha member from Telangana and the national president of the party’s OBC Morcha, K Laxman, was also picked for the board.
The 11-member board, headed by BJP national president JP Nadda, will include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, as well as Sarbananda Sonowal, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Sudha Yadav, and Satyanarayan Jatiya.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Nitin Gadkari have been dropped from the board.
BJP’s white flag to Yediyurappa?
The BJP’s decision to accommodate Yediyurappa in its highest decision-making body comes soon after the Lingayat strongman shed his “amenable” image and took on a more assertive avatar.
Yediyurappa’s appointment to the BJP parliamentary board committee comes barely weeks after the former Karnataka chief minister broke convention and announced his son BY Vijayendra’s candidature from his home turf of Shikaripura.
Ever since he was forced to quit as chief minister of Karnataka in July 2021, Yediyurappa has maintained a quiet and amenable approach.
Following several instances of alleged sidelining of his opinions and requests — from the MLC election candidature to appointments for boards and corporations — Yediyurappa changed the equation with a single statement on his son’s candidate days before current Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai marked one year in office.
When the BJP ousted Yediyurappa as chief minister in 2021, his baiters in the party used his age, health, and political relevance to justify the decision.
Ironically, Yediyurappa has been appointed to the BJP Parliamentary Board at the age of 79.
With the Karnataka Assembly elections less than 10 months away, the BJP has gone back to Yediyurappa as its plans of alternative Lingayat leadership failed to take off.
