BELAGAVI: At a time when the disqualified MLAs are waiting desperately to join B S Yediyurappa's cabinet if they get a clean chit from the Supreme Court, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi has courted a controversy by stating that "there is no connection whatsoever between BJP and the 17 disqualified MLAs.''
Savadi said, his party was not linked to the ongoing dispute between the MLAs and the Congress party over their disqualification.
Going a step further, Savadi said, the BJP would have to "think seriously'' in the event of disqualified MLAs decided to join the party once they got the clean chit from the apex court.
While asserting that there was no need for the BJP leaders to think about the plight of disqualified MLAs, Savadi said in Belagavi "Why should we (BJP leaders) think about the disqualified MLAs. They have never said so far that they will join our party. All of them quit the Congress party discontent over the functioning of the coalition government. And then, they moved the court against their own party (Congress). So, it is a dispute between the MLAs and the Congress, and that the BJP is not at all linked to them.''
Even as all the 17 MLAs had quit their seats with a clear intent of joining the BJP by toppling the coalition government, Savadi's statement delinking BJP from disqualified MLAs has evoked sharp reactions from several top BJP leaders. Senior BJP leader Umesh Katti said it was only due to the blessings of all the disqualified MLAs that Savadi was able to become DCM in Yediyurappa's cabinet.
Venting his anger on Savadi for demeaning the MLAs, Katti called Savadi and other DCMs, Ashwath Narayan and Govind Karjol as unfit for the top posts they held in Yediyurappa government and said without naming Savadi that it was absurd of any leaders (in BJP) to even think of promoting someone (Savadi) as a leader in the party alternative to Yediyurappa.
"It is impossible for any leader to gain the stature of Yediyurappa in the party. He is the ultimate leader and none in the party should try the impossible,'' he warned.
Katti who was extremely upset over the elevation of Savadi and other juniors in the party when Yediyurappa expanded his cabinet, said, the posts of DCM in Yediyurappa government did not carry any value as they were not constitutional positions.
He said, no one would become great by holding such posts which had no powers and that Savadi, Karjol and Ashwath Narayan would never be able to become equal to Yediyurappa ever by holding DCMs posts.
While stating that the decision on whether or not to allot party tickets to the disqualified MLAs in the coming bypoll was a party's call, Katti said, he has however asked the party high command to field BJP's candidates who were defeated in the last elections. `"I wish the party to fields Ashok Pujari in Gokak, Raju Kage in Kagwad and Laxman Savadi in Athani as all of them were defeated in the last assembly election. But it is up to the party to take a final call on it,'' he added.
Disqualified MLA from Kagwad, Shrimant Patil denied to comment on Savadi's statement and said, all the disqualified MLAs would take a final call on whether to join BJP or other parties once they got the clean chit from the court. Patil said he had not decided yet on whether to contest the coming bypoll if he was eligible for it.