Yeddyurappa's focus on personal loyalists may harm BJP in Karnataka

New Delhi, Oct 17 : The BJP seemed to have multiple challenges in Karnataka where elections are due May next year as internal factionalism is on rise with a number of senior leaders opposing that state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa be given free hand in the run up to the polls. According to sources, Mr Yeddyurappa, who had left BJP a few years back over corruption charges against him but has come back to the party, has already impressed upon party's central leadership to give him "more freedom" in running the party affairs in the southern state. In 2008, it was under Mr Yeddyurappa's leadership that the BJP had come to power and Karnataka had emerged as party's first southern citadel. BJP president Amit Shah has directed the state unit and all key leaders in the state to launch a three-month long campaign Nava (New) Karnataka Parivarthana Rally from November 2. However, the BJP central leadership is not quite keen to give the former Chief Minister Mr Yeddyurappa - much elbow room or greater freedom as he had deserted the party once and had floated the regional outfit Karnataka Janata Paksha. Moreover, a section of senior state leaders like Ananth Kumar, Jagdish Shettar and Prahlad Joshi also have indicated their opposition to Mr Yeddyurappa's style of functioning. Over the months, even RSS is cautious about the working style of the former Chief Minister. The BJP's Karnataka polls affairs co-in charge and Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar was recently briefed by senior party leaders on the state of affairs in the party. "Things do not look healthy," a party leader told UNI -- even as the party has officially denied about the same and suggested such minor skirmishes do occur in every party during elections. The anti-Yeddyurappa brigade in the party has complained that the former Chief Minister has developed a new style under which he is "promoting his personal loyalists and those colleagues from his regional outfit KJP". As a result, they say the "genuine party workers" are feeling sidelined. To strengthen their argument, Yeddyurappa detractors cite the instances of Shimoga and Belgaum districts wherein two former KJP leaders have been made BJP district unit presidents - and the plea of the local BJP leaders have been brushed aside. Mr Yeddyurappa’s detractors rue over the fact that he had appointed K Srinivas Prasad, a defector from Congress, as the party’s state unit Vice-President. While, anti-Yeddyurappa camp – especially led by Leader of Opposition in the Vidhana Parishad, KS Eshwarappa, says this was only to reward “sycophancy”, for his part the former CM has said that the move was made to ensure that Dalits are adequately represented in the party. UNI