BENGALURU: Former CM Basavaraj Bommai’s defensive statement on Wednesday after meeting Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa that “he is our ‘elder’ besides a distant relative and it is not appropriate to mix politics with it’’, does not come as a surprise, said sources close to former CM BS Yediyurappa.
The statement is to protect himself from the allegations of the BJP troika of CT Ravi, Sunil Kumar and Prathap Simha, who have claimed that some BJP leaders were in a secret alliance with Congress leaders to defeat BJP in the Assembly polls, they said. The reasons for the BJP loss are being discussed openly within the party. Why is this being raised four weeks after the polls, they asked.
Bommai clarified, “Friendships are different and political relations are different and there is no question of me compromising on my political stand.”
They said Bommai is the obvious choice for the leader of opposition post, but there has been no decision even a month after the polls. This indicates that BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh is looking for a scapegoat within the party on whom he could hang the shame of defeat, they said.
The statements of Karkala BJP leader Sunil Kumar that someone younger should be selected as opposition leader and General Secretary CT Ravi’s utterances are at the behest of Santhosh, they said.