BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s strident critics - CP Yogeeshwara, Basangouda Patil Yatnal and Aravind Bellad - as well as his loyalist M P Renukacharya, have been kept out of the Bommai Cabinet.Sources said that by doing so, the party has sent out a clear message that it will not tolerate legislators putting the party and the government in embarrassing situations by openly speaking against the government, the leadership or publicly criticising each other.
“If those who spoke against Yediyurappa were made ministers, it would have encouraged others to speak against Bommai. At the same time, it would have sent out a wrong message that leaders who criticised each other in public were rewarded,” the sources pointed out.
While Yatnal was among the most vocal critics of Yediyurappa, Yogeeshwara and Bellad had made several trips to Delhi to meet the party top brass. Yogeeshwara, who was a minister under Yediyurappa, had openly criticised the latter. Many MLAs, including Renukacharya, had demanded action against Yogeeshwara. Amid all the talk of leadership change in the state, Renukacharya had claimed that he had a letter signed by a majority of BJP MLAs in support of Yediyurappa. In fact, Yediyurappa had asked his party MLAs not to indulge in signature campaigns or issue statements.
Meanwhile, Bellad’s name was also doing the rounds for the CM’s post. Sources said Yediyurappa strongly opposed any move to induct Yogeeshwara and Yatnal into the new Cabinet as that would amount to rewarding indiscipline in the party. “The party has sent out a clear message that it will not tolerate any indiscipline, either anti- or pro-Yediyurappa,” sources said.