BENGALURU : The Karnataka political cauldron seems to be on the boil, if the slew of meetings in New Delhi and Karnataka is anything to go by. Besides the to-ing and fro-ing to the national capital, there are parleys between unlikely parties, besides significant statements. Whether they are all linked and is there anything more to it than meets the eye, could become clear in the coming days.
BJP General Secretary CT Ravi meeting national party leaders in New Delhi over the past few days, chief ministerial aspirant Murugesh Nirani rushing to Delhi, minister C P Yogeeshwara returning from Delhi to meet swamis and party leaders like MP Sreenivas Prasad and MLC Adagur Vishwanath in Mysuru, and a statement from MLA Basanagouda Yatnal about State unit BJP vice-president BY Vijayendra being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi, could be pieces of a larger jigsaw.
And CM B S Yediyurappa’s statement that he is in the hot seat as “long as the High Command wants me to continue” reportedly set off muted celebrations in the opposing camp. Former cabinet minister CT Ravi has been in Delhi for three days, meeting the central leadership. Interestingly, Nirani, a Lingayat leader, too rushed to Delhi and returned on Saturday.
While the details of these hush-hush meetings are still not known, there is speculation that they have to do with leadership change. It is no secret that Nirani has close connections with the central leadership, especially Home Minister Amit Shah. Nirani met certain RSS and BJP leaders on Friday and Saturday. Curiously, Nirani was to visit Delhi when MLA Arvind Bellad and minister CP Yogeeshwara were there about ten days ago, but changed his plans.
Yogeeshwara, on returning from Delhi, wanted a legislature party meeting convened, and went about saying he would write a letter and collect signatures, but changed his mind after criticism from party men. Instead, he went about meeting matadhipathis and swamis -- JSS swamiji in Mysuru, Adichunchanagiri swami and others, besides BJP MLC Adagur Vishwanath, a strident critic of Yediyurappa. It was MP Sreenivas Prasad who had brought Vishwanath to the BJP. Both were once with the Congress. Another of the CM’s critics, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, has claimed that Vijayendra went to Delhi because he was quizzed by central agencies.