BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa is all set for a showdown with BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, as despite the latter’s opposition, he is going ahead with his plans to galvanise HINDA (Kannada acronym for backward communities and dalits) under the banner of Sangolli Rayanna Brigade (SRB).
Eshwarappa held day-long discussions with SRB leaders K Virupakshappa, K Mukudappa, C N Ramu and D Venkatesh Murthy on Thursday to build SRB as a strong forum of backward communities and dalits. They released the SRB logo later in the day and announced their decision to hold the first SRV convention at Haveri on Sepember 26. Though Eshwarappa stayed away from the press conference after the meeting, Mukudappa and Ramu said Yeddyurappa would be invited to be a part of the SRB to expand the OBC and Dalit support base of BJP.
Yeddyurappa had at the recent BJP core commitee meeting opposed Eshwarappa’s plans to organise rallies under the banner of any non-BJP outfit. However, Eshwarappa received the support of BJP national general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka Muralidhara Rao at the meeting. Eshwarappa has now conveyed the message that he is ready to take on Yeddyurappa.
This confrontation threatens to widen the cracks within BJP. Many in the party are worried that the confrontation could deliver a big blow for BJPs’ Mission 150 to win at least 150 seats in the next assembly election.President of State BJP’s OBC Morcha B J Puttaswamy has expressed his displeasure at Eshwarappa’s move.