VIJAYAPURA: Former Union minister and BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa over the inclusion of seven new elected members into the cabinet and demanded his resignation.
Amidst the recent warning from the high command, MLA Yatnal, who is known for making controversial statements, has once again come heavily on his own party Chief Minister after the latter announced the induction of newly-elected MLAs into the cabinet.
Earlier, the cabinet used to expand based on caste, district, and loyalty to the party. Now, the cabinet berths are being blessed under money and secret CD quota, which is shameful. At least two new cabinet ministers and a political secretary of the CM have blackmailed Yediyurappa with a secret CD to get the ministerial berths in the government, Yatnal claimed.
Yatnal alleged: “B S Yediyurappa was involved in three cases of corruption and the court had fined him Rs 25,000. He should tender his resignation on moral grounds. Moreover, the party high command doesn’t believe in the family politics but when we look into the CM's family - his first son is a parliamentarian from Shivamogga and another is state party vice-president.”
“Even many leaders in the party complained against CM Yediyurappa for taking only his sons instead of senior party leaders while meeting the high command in New Delhi. A group of leaders are unhappy with his leadership,” he added, “This Makar Sankranti will mark the beginning of the end of Yediyurappa,” chided Yatnal.
Yatnal further said: "Three elected members, who are taking oath as cabinet ministers, had met him in a private resort in Nelamangala and had discussed ousting Yediyurappa as Chief Minister. I was shocked. Even they were ready to shell out crores of rupees to dethrone him. It is a cent per cent fact that a couple of new ministers got power by blackmailing the Chief Minister.”
Yatnal further alleged that Yediyurappa recently gave a sum of Rs 83 crore to the Veerashaiva-Lingayat mutts asking the pontiffs to rebel against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP, if the party high command makes an attempt to dethrone him from power. He said: “Yediyurappa is using the Veerashaiva-Lingayat mutts to safeguard his political power. He disgraced the entire community with his political games. He should take moral responsibility and tender
resignation.”
Yatnal clarified that he was not an aspirant for the cabinet berth and is happier to work as a legislator to develop his constituency.