The tumultuous internal squabbles in the BJP's Karnataka unit, which had touched a crescendo in the last few months, appear to have reached a climax now.
Published Feb 19, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 19, 2025 | 5:29 PM
BY Vijayendra is likely to continue as the party's state president. But BJP's troubles are unlikely to end.
Synopsis: The fault lines in the BJP are visible, and disgruntled leaders do not hesitate to speak their minds in private and public, even as the national leadership tries to — albeit in vain so far — strike a balance and bring about a truce. The party’s brittleness began with its spectacular defeat in the 2023 Assembly polls, and later, the appointment of one-time MLA BY Vijayendra as the state president further widened the chasm. Amidst all these, there is one aspect that neither group is happy about: The Congress government does not have a strong opposition.
The BJP unit in Karnataka is a hopelessly divided lot. The party speaks in several voices; it is as though there is no leadership in the organisation at a time when a strong opposition is needed to take on the ruling Congress, which is facing huge problems.
While the BJP has completely failed to quell the voices that are speaking against the state leadership, its leaders are also found wanting in taking on the Siddaramaiah-led state government.
The tumultuous internal squabbles in the BJP’s Karnataka unit, which had touched a crescendo in the last few months, appear to have reached a climax now. The internecine battle between the groups led by state BJP president BY Vijayendra, son of former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa, and the group led by MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal began when the former was appointed to the post in November 2023.
Yatnal, who was alone when he launched a tirade against Vijayendra, has seen the numbers grow. Several key party leaders, such as Ramesh Jarkiholi, MLA, an influential Valmiki leader from the Belagavi region, and Dalit leader Arvind Limbavali, a former MLA, are among those who have taken cudgels against the state party chief.
Ramesh, hailing from the powerful Jarkiholi family, had made 17 MLAs from the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) resign and unseat HD Kumaraswamy as the chief minister of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in 2019. The rebellion and resignation from the assembly brought Yediyurappa to the chief minister’s gaddi.
Why was Vijayendra, a first-time MLA from Shikaripura (in the Shivamogga district), which was represented by his father for several decades, brought in as party chief by the high command?
The Karnataka unit of the party was in bad shape following its humiliating defeat at the hands of the Congress in May 2023. The Delhi leadership was so disgusted with the state unit that it refused to nominate either the leader of the opposition in the assembly or the state party chief for months.
Finally, it zeroed in on R Ashoka, a Vokkaliga, for the opposition leader’s position and Vijayendra, a Lingayat, for the state chief’s post.
The leadership thought that being the son of Yediyurappa, who had played a pivotal role in building the party in Karnataka and being from the Lingayat community, the main vote base of the party, Vijayendra would take everyone along and galvanise the party.
But that was not to be. And the party leadership realised it quickly.
Yatnal, a critic of Yediyurappa for long, launched a tirade against Vijayendra the day he took over, calling him corrupt and inefficient and the one who forged his father’s signature when the latter was the chief minister. Yatnal was angling for one of the two posts: the opposition leader’s post or the state chief’s.
However, the Bagalkot MLA was not taken seriously by the party high command. They did not act against him either.
Yatnal had been an eternal rebel. For the past three years, he had been speaking against the state party leaders, but the party bosses in Delhi did not bother. Twice, he was issued notice for anti-party activities, but Yatnal did not respond. Now, for the third time, a notice has been issued to him. The rebel leader has not responded so far.
The defeat of the BJP in two of the three bypolls to the assembly held in November 2024 (Congress swept, winning all three; it retained Ballari while wresting one each from BJP and JD) was a massive setback for the party and especially to Vijayendra. Sons of two former chief ministers were contesting polls – Basavaraj Bommai’s son in Shiggaon and Kumaraswamy’s son in Channapatna – both lost badly.
Vijayendra, who was looking for some sort of seal of approval for his leadership with the wins, knew that he was in trouble with the defeats. And it did happen. Yatnal expanded his team while one more group came up to oppose Vijayendra: the group of neutrals comprising several key leaders, including Bommai and Ashoka.
This group, however, did not come out into the open though. Their ire was that the party revival was not happening under Vijayendra.
Several incidents relating to the party in the last few weeks not only showed Vijayendra in a bad light but also highlighted that he was not in control. Once close friends, mining baron G Janardhana Reddy criticised ST leader B Sriramulu in the presence of Radha Mohandas Agarwal, who himself questioned Sriramulu’s role in the Ballari bypoll.
An angry Sriramulu lashed out at Vijayendra for remaining silent and not defending him when Agarwal and Reddy were criticising him. There were talks of Sriramulu leaving the party and joining Congress. However, BJP president JP Nadda intervened and pacified the ST leader.
The recent appointments of BJP district unit presidents have put the state chief in a spot. Chikkaballapur MP and former minister Dr K Sudhakar launched a broadside at Vijayendra for not taking him into confidence and appointing real estate agents as district chiefs. He was angry that Vijayendra appointed a “realtor” as Chikkaballapur district chief.
Calling Vijayendra an “arrogant and vengeful” leader, he asked the party’s high command to get the state party president to change his style of functioning or replace him with a leader who could take everyone along. Nadda intervened again, and the appointment has now been put on hold.
Although it lost the assembly polls, the BJP was expected to battle it out as an opposition party, but except for a protest here and there, the ruling Congress has not faced a fiery opposition either in the legislature or outside. This, many attribute to the divisions within the organisation as well as to express their unhappiness over Vijayendra.
The only major move launched against the state government was a padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru to protest against the alleged MUDA land scandal involving Siddaramaiah, but it made more news because of the divide within the party and JD(S)’s refusal to be part of the protest.
A photograph in newspapers on 17 February of only Ashoka and Narayanaswamy, opposition leaders in assembly and council, respectively, holding placards on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha to protest against alleged abusive remarks made by the son of Bhadravati Congress MLA against a female officer for stopping illegal sand mining, brought out the stark reality of division within the party.
There was no other BJP MLA or MLC or other party leaders, including Vijayendra, giving company to the two. There are dissenting voices against Ashoka, too, for not effectively playing the role of the opposition on the floor of the House.
Meanwhile, the vocal group opposing Vijayendra and demanding his replacement visited Delhi recently but returned empty-handed without meeting any top leaders. This was followed by a statement from Vijayendra that the election for the party’s state chief would be held by Thursday, 20 February.
In all probability, Vijayendra will continue as the state party president. But the trouble in the party is unlikely to end.
(BS Arun is a Bengaluru-based senior journalist. Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
