MANGALURU: A top RSS source said on Saturday that the BJP’s decision to reinstate M B Banu Prakash and Nirmal Kumar Suvarna as vice-presidents of the party’s state unit, was to destabilise the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa-led government. A section of the Sangh was unhappy with this decision. The source said that with this, BJP national general secretary B L Santhosh’s dream of controlling Karnataka is slowly becoming a reality.
Prakash and Suvarna were relieved from their posts in April 2017. The leaders had attended a meeting organised by BJP leader K S Eshwarappa to stage a protest against BSY’s unilateral decisions. The source said that reinstating these leaders was pre-planned and it was one of many to come.
The source said, “The appointment of Nalin Kumar Kateel as the state party chief was the execution of Santhosh’s orders.” Many in the Sangh were unhappy with this decision as many grassroots-level leaders were sidelined to let one man ascend.
Another source said that while Prakash’s and Suvarna’s actions were deemed anti-party in 2017, as they sided with KSE’s Rayanna Brigade, Kateel now thinks otherwise. “The parivar’s ideology is the dominance of an organisation and not an individual. Even BSY learnt this the hard way. Now, it looks like the rules do not apply to Santhosh. It has become BSY versus BLS now,” the source said.
The source said that Santosh will execute many such plans through Nalin. He wants to place his men in key posts to checkmate BSY. However, these decisions will have their own repercussions. Santhosh’s style of functioning has sidelined many grassroots-level workers.
“The national heads of the party want to get rid of BSY,” the source stressed. Kateel and Santhosh did not respond to calls.