BENGALURU: BJP’s Central Disciplinary Committee has expelled former Union minister and senior legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from the party’s primary membership for six years.
In a note to Yatnal, the committee stated that the party considered his response to the show cause notice issued to him on February 10 and took serious note of his repeated violation of the party’s code of conduct, despite his promise to respect and honour the code.
“It has accordingly been decided to expel you for a period of six years with immediate effect from the primary membership of the party and you stand removed from any party position that you may have held until now,’’ Om Pathak, member-secretary, CDC, stated.
Yatnal has been issuing statements against BJP state president BY Vijayendra and former CM BS Yediyurappa, embarrassing the party as well as its senior leaders.
Unfortunate development: Vijayendra
Vijayendra said action against Yatnal was taken after deliberations on recent developments within the party. He, however, termed it unfortunate. “I have neither formally registered nor verbally expressed grievances with the party leadership about the recent events,’’ he clarified. He said that he considered the disciplinary action taken by the party leadership as an unfortunate development.
On Tuesday, the CDC issued show cause notices to ST Somashekar, Shivaram Hebbar, MP Renukacharya, Katta Subramanya Naidu and MLA BP Harish.
BJP sources said the party is trying to send a strong message to errant leaders. While Yatnal has been expelled, Renukacharya, a vocal supporter of Vijayendra, got the show-cause notice. The BJP high command wants to put an end to indiscipline among party leaders and workers before making an official announcement on the state unit president.