Former CM Yeddyurappa to head Karnataka unit
Former CM Yeddyurappa to head Karnataka unit
With an eye on the looming Assembly polls in politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh and Punjab next year, the BJP on Friday named an OBC, Keshav Prasad Maurya, and a dalit, Vijay Sampla, to head the two state units. Former chief minister and Lingayat strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa was also named state unit chief in Karnataka. In addition, the party announced K. Laxman and Tapir Gao as its new chiefs in Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh respectively.
Mr Maurya, also a first-time MP from Phulpur, was seen as close to late VHP stalwart Ashok Singhal and had also taken part in the Ram Janambhoomi movement. An OBC, Mr Maurya is also an accused in some criminal cases. In both Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where the caste factor plays a critical role, naming an OBC and a dalit to head its state units ahead of next year’s Assembly elections, the BJP has sent out a strong political message. In UP, OBCs constitute 50 per cent while dalits are around 20 per cent of the total population. Similarly, in Punjab, more than 30 per cent of the population consists of dalits.
In Karnataka, where the BJP named Mr Yeddyurappa as state unit chief, his Lingayat caste (OBC) have significant numbers. Assembly elections in this southern state are due in 2018 and the BJP hopes to come back to power by sending out a positive message to the numerically strong and powerful Lingayat community.
Mr Yeddyurappa had left the BJP after he was removed as chief minister on corruption charges, floated his own party but later returned to the BJP. He is now Shimoga’s MP. Mr Yeddyurappa returned to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, helping the party win 17 of the state’s 28 seats in the Lower House of Parliament.
After his name was announced, Mr Yeddyurappa said his main priority would be to bring the BJP back to power as the people were “fed up” with the “corrupt” Congress government in the state. The Congress, however, claimed that Mr Yeddyurappa’s appointment was a “glorification of corruption”.
AICC general secretary B.K. Hariprasad, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, said: “The appointment of Yeddyurappa as president of the BJP in Karnataka is nothing but glorification of corruption as for the first time in the history of Karnataka politics, the man who was jailed for corruption charges as chief minister has been made the state unit chief of a party.”
In January, the Karnataka high court had quashed 15 FIRs against the senior BJP leader for alleged illegal denotification of lands based on a CAG report. The order came as yet another breather for Mr Yeddyurappa, close on the heels of the high court quashing former governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s sanction for his prosecution when he was chief minister and also the Lokayukta court striking down four FIRs against him for alleged illegal land denotification.
Mr Yeddyurappa was accused of illegally denotifying land in favour of his relatives. Asked about pending corruption cases against him, Mr Yeddyurappa said he was confident of getting his name cleared from them as well. “I have total faith in the judicial system. I have come out clean in almost all court cases, except one or two. I am confident and have faith in the judiciary that I will get justice,” he claimed.
While announcing Mr Maurya’s name, BJP general secretary Arun Singh said the Phulpur MP comes from “a backward community and a very poor family. He sold newspapers and tea for a living”. The names of OBC leaders Dharampal Singh and Swatantra Dev, besides Dinesh Sharma, a brahmin, and Union minister Manoj Sinha, a bhumihar, were also doing the rounds for UP unit chief. The BJP had swept the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in UP, winning 71 of 80 seats on its own while helping an ally get two seats.
The party also announced K. Laxman and Tapir Gao as its new chiefs in Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh. Mr Laxman, an OBC, is now its leader in the Assembly, and Mr Gao is a former Lok Sabha member.
The BJP is yet to announce the names of chiefs of six state units, including those of Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi.
