BENGALURU: With a change of guard in the leadership of the BJP on the cards post the Lok Sabha polls, senior leader R Ashoka has expressed his willingness to replace BS Yeddyurappa as Karnataka unit’s President. “I am no political mendicant. The party made me an MLA, a Home Minister and even a deputy Chief Minister. They will give me this post too. I will await my turn,” he told journalists on Monday.
The election in-charge for Karnataka has toured multiple districts in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and has expressed confidence of winning at least 22 seats. Reiterating that all party posts, including that of National President Amit Shah, will be changed following due process post the elections, Ashoka said he was not lobbying for the post but is ready to take up the responsibility. Ashoka is one among the three Vokkaliga frontrunners for the post.
Referring to Tejasvi Surya’s selection as the Bangalore South candidate, the former Home Minister said that it was the BJP’s way of identifying and shaping a new wave of leaders. “Mandya is a special case. We have backed Sumalatha given the respect the people of Mandya had for Ambareesh. It does not mean the party sidelined Tejaswini Ananth Kumar,” he added.
Rejecting allegations of the BJP attempting to topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, Ashoka claimed that internal dissidence in the Congress fuelled by Siddaramaiah was the coalition’s undoing. “All the leaders who rebelled were Siddaramaiah’s supporters. If anyone wants this government toppled, it is clearly the Congress,” he stated.