BENGALURU: Amid talk of a leadership change in the state, senior Lingayat leaders in the Congress are openly backing Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. The seer of a prominent Veerashaiva-Lingayat mutt, too, backed the 78-year-old chief minister on Monday.
"Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is the tallest leader in the Lingayat community. The BJP's central leaders will face the wrath of the community if they remove him from the CM's post," senior Congress leader and former minister MB Patil said.
Patil said that considering Yediyurappa's age and contribution to the party, the BJP must treat him with respect. "To continue him as the CM or remove him from the post is an internal matter of the BJP. People of the state respect him, and BJP leaders must treat him with respect. People are pained with the way he was treated by the BJP leadership," he said, adding that it is his personal view and has nothing to do with his party's stand.
On Monday, another senior Congress leader and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president Shamanur Shivasankarappa met Yediyurappa to congratulate him for deciding to install social reformer Basavanna's statue on the Vidhana Soudha premises in Bengaluru.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the former Congress minister said they (BJP central leaders) should know what had happened in the state when Veerendra Patil and other Lingayat leaders were removed from the CM's post.
"All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha has always supported Yediyurappa, and will continue to do so," he said, and rubbished speculation over leadership change. Yediyurappa built the party in the state and BJP will be nothing without him, Shamanur added.
After the unceremonious removal of Veerendra Patil from the chief minister's post, Lingayat voters had drifted away from the Congress.Meanwhile, Balehonnur Rambhapuri Peetha seer said Yediyurappa should be allowed to continue as Chief Minister, and the party will have to face the consequences if he is removed. Seers of several Lingayat mutts had earlier issued a statement, backing Yediyurappa.
READY TO TAKE UP ANY POST GIVEN BY PARTY: KSE
Shivamogga: RDPR Minister and senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa on Monday said that he was ready to accept any assignment given to him by the party. Speaking to reporters on the alleged audio that went viral on Sunday night on the leadership change in the state, Eshwarappa said that the voice in the audio was not of BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel.
"I'm not worried about my ministerial berth. I'm ready to work on the task the party assigns to me," he said. "Conspirators cannot make Kateel a scapegoat in this incident," he said.
YATNAL PREDICTS MAJOR CHANGES IN STATE ON JULY 30
Vijayapura: BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal—a vocal dissenter of Yediyurappa—has hinted at a major political development in the state on July 30. "July 30 is like the D-day in state politics," he said. “PM Modi will opt for such a leader who will be capable of taking the party towards victory in the next Assembly polls besides," he said.
Yatnal said he is yet to get an invite for the BJP legislature meeting to be held on July 26. "I will attend it and express my views about the party and government," he said. He sought a CCB probe into the audio clip that purportedly talks about leadership change in the state.