MYSURU: Tourism Minister CP Yogeeshwara is keeping up his defiant posture, demanding the replacement of CM BS Yediyurappa.
His statements, peppered with metaphors and allusions to the political scenario, hint at a brewing discontent in some quarters.
Yogeeshwara on Sunday met Chamarajanagara MP V Srinivasa Prasad and held a closed-door meeting.
Speaking to reporters later, Yogeeshwara compared the CM’s post to the Dasara Ambari and said that no elephant can permanently carry the Ambari.
“Change is inevitable and one day, the Ambari elephant will be changed,” he said, adding that Dasara is nearing. The hint was clear: the demand for change in leadership still seems to be alive in his mind and also that of other BJP leaders.
“We respect the Ambari and also Goddess Chamundeshwari. The CM who leads the government needs to be efficient, just like the Ambari elephant needs to prove its mettle by carrying the howdah and walking majestically during the Dasara procession... The CM’s post is not a prestige issue, it’s a post to prove efficiency,” he said.
He said that Opposition leader Siddaramaiah had once said he had had enough of the post, but now wants the post again.
“The Ambari elephant is often changed Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Balarama, all have carried the Ambari on their back, but can Arjuna’s calf become the Ambari elephant just because Arjuna is an Ambari elephant?” Yogeeshwara questioned, taking an indirect jibe at CM Yediyurappa’s son and BJP state vice-president B Y Vijayendra.
Prasad hopes for four MPs
With the Union Cabinet expansion around the corner, veteran leader and MP V Srinivas Prasad was hopeful that four Parliament members from Karnataka would be inducted into the ministry.
He said the names of Shobha Karandlaje, Shivakumar Udasi and Umesh Jadhav are doing the rounds. Of these, Umesh Jadhav appears to be strong contender, he added.