Bengaluru: The income tax raids last week at multiple properties, including those linked to B.S. Yediyurappa’s aide, Umesh, have turned into the latest flashpoint between the former Karnataka CM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
So evident is the faceoff that the opposition parties are making the BJP’s treatment of Yediyurappa their rallying point.
“I don’t want to link the raid with politics. This is different from politics,” Yediyurappa told reporters on 7 October when news of the raids broke.
But even as BSY refuses to drag politics into it and those close to him maintain that the raids have neither impact nor connections with the former chief minister, behind closed doors, sources say, rumblings of a tug of war between the party and the leader have only grown louder.
Who is Umesh?
Umesh, a native of Shivamogga, started as a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) driver-cum-conductor before turning into a government contractor and then personal secretary to Yediyurappa in 2008 during the latter’s tenure as chief minister.
Umesh worked with Yediyurappa’s elder son and BJP MP B.Y. Raghavendra in between and returned to the CMO when Yediyurappa took charge as the chief minister again in 2019.
Sources in the BJP said Umesh worked as the ‘point person’ for all works related to the irrigation department and was close to B.Y. Vijayendra, BSY’s younger son. Umesh continued to work as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Chief Minister’s office under Basavaraj Bommai after Yediyurappa’s exit. Following the IT raids, Umesh’s deputation to CMO was revoked.
“Umesh was the only link between B.S. Yediyurappa and Chief Minister’s office. With these IT raids they have cut off the only active communication channel. How does one not read this as a message?” a source from the Yediyurappa camp told The Print.
Meanwhile, a senior BJP legislator close to the central leadership of the party said: “How can a private person be appointed as assistant to CM if he isn’t close to the family? They even ensured he continued in CMO under Bommai.”
“B.S. Yediyurappa is a tall leader. Just because IT raids a person who worked with him, it does not reflect on Yediyurappa. Neither is this an attempt to dent his image,” MP Renukacharya, Political Secretary to the chief minister and a Yediyurappa loyalist told ThePrint.
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BJP wants to ‘dent BSY’s image as undisputed poll winner’
Ever since he demitted the office of Chief Minister, Yediyurappa’s attempts to stay relevant have consistently been stonewalled by the party, his aides claim.
Whether it was his plan of touring the State — which was later converted into a party yatra — or keeping his son and BJP State Vice President Vijayendra away from bypoll responsibilities — only to make a U-turn after pushback — and now the IT raids on his close aide, sources close to Yediyurappa believe the party is looking to publicly sideline the leader and that isn’t going well with the veteran.
The source from Yediyurappa’s camp quoted above said the BJP is trying to elbow Yediyurappa out to showcase that it can win elections even without the veteran. “His baiters want to tick him off and ensure he does not campaign for the upcoming bypolls so they can claim that the party will perform irrespective of Yediyurappa. The ruling party always has an edge in bypolls and they want to use this opportunity to dent Yediyurappa’s image as an undisputed poll winner,” the source added.
Political analysts do not disagree entirely. “One can’t comment on the IT raids but other things make it clear that ever since Yediyurappa stepped down there has been a clear attempt by the BJP leadership to not entertain issues on which they had differences with him. It was visible when Yediyurappa didn’t have his say in Bommai’s council of ministers, when his statewide tour was converted into a party affair and now when his son Vijayendra was not included as in-charges for Hanagal,” Dr Sandeep Shastri, political analyst and National Coordinator of Lokniti Network told ThePrint.
He also pointed to how the party “course-corrected” by adding Vijayendra as an in-charge for the Hangal assembly seat.
“For now, all we can do is wait and watch. There are elections lined up till February next year from bypolls to Legislative Council elections to BBMP polls and Urbal Local Body elections. He will wait and watch how the party treats him until then and take a call,” another source close to Yediyurappa said.
The decision to wait and watch, the source added, stems from the assurance that the BJP central leadership has supposedly told Vijayendra that he would be made an MLC and given a cabinet berth in the Bommai cabinet by end of the year.
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