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Eshwarappa, who has announced that he would contest the election as an independent candidate, alleged that the BJP central leadership succumbed to former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s obduracy and made his son Vijayendra the BJP state chief.
Reacting to it, Yediyurappa said he would not respond to such “irresponsible statements” and that only people will reply to it.
Eshwarappa, a former State BJP chief, had said he would contest against Yediyurappa’s son and incumbent MP, B Y Raghavendra, in Shivamogga.
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“I am confident that once I win the election, Vijayendra will resign from the BJP state president post,” Eshwarappa said.
Eshwarappa claimed that there was a delay of six months in appointing Vijayendra as the BJP state chief. “Why did the delay happen? The central leaders were not ready for it. Due to Yediyurappa’s obduracy, he was made the state president.”
He wondered why Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was not made the BJP state president though he was also a Lingayat, a dominant community in Karnataka, just as Yediyurappa.
Eshwarappa said C T Ravi quit as a minister to serve as BJP in-charge for Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu but he too was not considered for the post.
“Yediyurappa does not want anyone, be it Lingayat, Vokkaliga or anyone from backward caste, as the BJP state president. He just wanted his son to hold the post. I am fighting against that system,” Eshwarappa said.
Rejecting Eshwarappa’s allegations, Yediyurappa told reporters in the national capital: “It is known to all how the party grew in the state after Vijayendra became the state president. Eshwarappa is making allegations only because his son did not get a ticket, which is not right.”
He said decisions on selection of candidates are taken unanimously by the BJP Central Election Committee.
“None of the decisions are taken by Yediyurappa unilaterally. Eshwarappa is unnecessarily alleging that I denied his son a ticket. I believe that in two or three days he will realise and become fine.”
On Eshwarappa’s move to contest the election as an independent candidate, Yediyurappa said party leaders, including himself, have appealed to him not to take such a decision.
Referring to Congress reportedly sending feelers to disgruntled BJP MP and former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, who was denied ticket to contest from Bangalore North again, Yediyurappa said the Congress is not getting proper candidates to contest the election.
“It is a matter of shame that they are poaching on disgruntled BJP leaders. You can guess the outcome of the election when they are not getting candidates for the election,” the 81-year-old veteran BJP leader said.
On the “delay” in announcing candidates for Raichur and Chitradurga, he said there were certain reasons behind it which he wished not to discuss with the media.