The writing on the wall is clear that Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) President B S Yeddyurappa wants to return to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the announcement of Lok Sabha polls.
Former chief minister Yeddyurappa’s statement that his partymen were keen on seat sharing with the BJP comes a fortnight after he had dismissed his own partyman K V Dhananjaykumar’s statement on the issue.
Leaders on condition of anonymity told Express that a majority of office-bearers from various districts favoured returning to the BJP much before the Lok Sabha polls.
It is inevitable for Yeddyurappa to join the BJP as KJP is not in a position to fight the parliamentary polls alone, the leaders claimed.
The KJP may have won seats in the May 5 Assembly elections but it cannot compete with the two national parties — BJP and Congress — in forthcoming parliamentary polls.
The elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as chairman of BJP’s campaign committee has brightened the party’s hope to come to power in the Centre with the support of its allies.
This has prompted the rank and file of KJP to go with the BJP, the leaders claimed.
They said the proposal of seat sharing with the BJP was the first of Yeddyurappa’s move to return his former party. Having mooted the idea, Yeddyurappa has put the ball in BJP’s court and now he waits for their response.
Already, the BJP leaders, who owe allegiance to him are lobbying in Delhi to impress upon their national leaders to give green signal for Yeddyurappa’s return to the party.
Yeddyurappa was aware of leader of the Opposition D V Sadananda Gowda, former ministers Basavaraj Bommai, Murgesh Nirani and Umesh Katti working in their individual capacity to convince BJP national president Rajnath Singh and former deputy prime minister L K Advani for his return. But, he did not want to accept it publicly as it would send a wrong signal that he was desperate to join the BJP.
On the other hand, the BJP has been insisting that Yeddyurappa send a formal proposal which would be placed before the BJP Parliamentary Board for a final decision.
“All the process is likely to be completed within a month,” the leaders said.