BENGALURU: The resignation of BJP Yuva Morcha office-bearers, including those handling the party’s social media handles across the state, has come as a setback for the saffron party ahead of the 2023 assembly polls in Karnataka.
They were expressing their anger against the leadership, following the murder of Praveen Nettaru in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada district -- incidentally, BJP state president Nalinkumar Kateel’s home turf and Lok Sabha constituency.
BJPYM national president and Bengaluru South LS member Tejasvi Surya had to intervene to control damage. He reportedly called his Chikkamagaluru counterpart Sandeep Aravinagandi, who had initiated the resignation spree, and gave a diktat to stop it. BJPYM workers and office-bearers from various districts, including Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Hubballi and Koppal, resigned after the murder to send out a message to party leaders and the government that they felt let down.
Besides this, over 100 young leaders affirmed that they will dissociate themselves from handling social media for the party.
In Tumakuru, BJP workers staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office and presented a memorandum. BJP ST Morcha general secretary Rakesh T R couriered a copy of the Gita to Home Minister Arga Jnanendra, suggesting that he safeguard ‘dharma’ (righteousness) as Lord Krishna had preached to Arjuna.
On social media, some workers expressed skepticism over the Bommai cabinet’s integrity in protecting the party ideology, as most of the ministers had their political roots in other parties.“For us, dharma (religion) is of utmost priority, next comes the party,” Rekha Shambu Patela of Hubballi mentioned in her resignation.
BJP state spokesman M G Mahesh on Thursday appealed to BJPYM office-bearers not to resign from their posts as the party will never let them down.
“They need not resign emotionally, but realise that the murder of our worker is part of an international conspiracy to create conflict within us. The government has been making a strong case to ban the PFI and SDPI,” he stated.