BENGALURU: BJP’s ‘master strategist’ B S Yediyurappa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president J P Nadda in New Delhi on Friday. He is likely to meet Home Minister Amit Shah later, after he receives an appointment.
“I have asked for more time from Nadda to discuss Karnataka and hope to meet him after PM Modiji’s visit to Mangalore on September 2. Both Modiji and Nadda have assured they would give more time to discuss Karnataka,” he told reporters.
Accompanying Yediyurappa to Delhi is newly elected Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka Lehar Singh, who is also his close associate. Asked what was on the meeting agenda, Yediyurappa said “updates and politics” would be discussed anyway.
BJP sources confirmed that Yediyurappa had sought time with PM Modi and other central leaders a few days ago, to thank the central leadership for appointing him to the Central Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee of the party.
For Yediyurappa, this visit is about flexing muscle and emerging as numero uno within the party once again; post his resignation in July last year, he was increasingly becoming irrelevant within the party.
In fact, his supporters were aghast that Yediyurappa couldn’t get Vijayendra to become MLC, and had also failed to get him into the ministry.
For the BJP, Yediyurappa is special, and the party has made many exceptions for him: he was made a chief minister in July 2019, though he was 75 years old, and now, at the age of 79 -- an ideal ‘margadarshak’ candidate -- he has been appointed to the BJP Parliamentary Board.
The BJP has much at stake in the assembly polls, and is likely to depend heavily on its star striker.
Yediyurappa has been BJP’s single biggest performer in elections since 2008, and is likely to do so in the upcoming polls too.
As chief minister, he had spoken of expecting to win 150 seats, but a series of unpleasant scandals has tarnished the image of the party in recent months.
Sources said Yediyurappa, who had jotted down talking points with the central leadership, sought suggestions from Modi and asked him about his expectations, besides his opinion on other issues.
Asked if Yediyurappa will try to get his nominee as party president, and if it figured in the discussions, sources said it was on his agenda, and he did not raise it.
There has been much buzz about a change in party president, with Nalin Kumar Kateel’s term drawing to a close.
The names doing the rounds are General Secretary CT Ravi, Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje and MLA Arvind Limbavali.
There is talk that Yediyurappa will try to instal one of his nominees as party president, which would mean that he has the final word in ticket selection.
Sources said Yediyurappa would also like more of his supporters accommodated in the ministry, which has five vacant berths.
Yediyurappa also met National General Secretary (Org) B L Santhosh, with whom he has shared an uneasy relationship and who remains his challenger. Santhosh has staffed the party organisation with his loyalists at all levels and removed many considered close to Yediyurappa.
His meeting with RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, who hails from his native district, is unlikely because the latter is in Maharashtra.
Asked if BBMP polls figured in the discussions today, sources said leaders like R Ashoka, ST Somashekar, K Gopalaiah and others will be playing a more prominent role in the polls and Yediyurappa’s role will be more supervisory.
BJP is likely to do well because it is in power, which gives it a natural advantage, sources said.