Bengaluru: Trouble is brewing for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, where, as it continues to intensify its protests against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government over alleged corruption, senior party leaders Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Ramesh Jarkiholi have openly accused the party president of “adjustment politics”.
Yatnal, a vocal critic of former chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa and his son, BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra, has accused the latter of carrying out the protests “on the orders of (deputy chief minister) D.K. Shivakumar”.
“Now Vijayendra is protesting against the MUDA (alleged scam). They need to reveal if they are doing this to replace Siddaramaiah with D.K. Shivakumar as the chief minister. Vijayendra is taking out the protest on the orders of D.K. Shivakumar…to force Siddaramaiah to step down. This padayatra (march) is part of adjustment politics,” Yatnal told reporters late Monday.
Speaking to reporters with Jarkiholi by his side, Yatnal’s accusations came days ahead of a 140 km-foot-march planned by the BJP in Karnataka from Bengaluru to Mysuru later this week.
The BJP and its alliance partner, the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S), continues to mount pressure on Siddaramaiah over the alleged misappropriation of funds in the state-run Valmiki development board and the procurement of 14 plots of land from the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), worth several crores three years ago.
Yatnal has also accused Yediyurappa’s relatives of benefiting from MUDA but concealing the allotments.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar were summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command Tuesday to take stock of the situation in Karnataka, people aware of the developments said.
Though Shivakumar is believed to be vying for the top post, he has, at least in public, backed the CM, terming the allegations as baseless and alleging in turn that there had been bigger scams during the BJP’s tenure.
The BJP in Karnataka had faced factionalism even during the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with K.S.Eshwarappa, D.V.Sadananda Gowda, Yatnal and several others questioning the tightening grip of Yediyurappa and his family over the party in the state.
Even during the just concluded legislative session of the Karnataka legislature, BJP leaders accused the party’s state leadership of “compromising” with the Congress and diluting its protests against Siddaramaiah on the floor of the House.
“We wanted to protest more, but our leader of the opposition (R. Ashok) and state president (Vijayendra) have made a deal with Siddaramaiah. Each time we intensify protests, our leaders ask us to walk out. We (BJP) will be accused of ‘adjustment politics’ by the people,” said one senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
Responding to the allegations, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, a senior BJP leader, told reporters, “There are small differences here and there. But amidst all this, I know that you (media) are asking if this is how we should carry on in this situation. This protest, if they do not take part in it, then they cannot claim that they are a worker of an opposition party.”
The Congress party dismissed the claims that there were any internal issues between its two top leaders, and accused the BJP of trying to “create confusion”.
“Let them (BJP) set their own house in order. We don’t want to comment on their internal party affairs…whether it’s broken or with multiple doors…we don’t know this,” G.Parameshwara, senior Congress leader and Karnataka’s minister for home affairs, told reporters Tuesday.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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