A day after the bonhomie in the ongoing Assembly session between lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa and BJP members, the State BJP distanced itself from Yeddyurappa’s overtures, saying that the party was not concerned with his statements. Addressing a Press conference in Bangalore on Thursday, State BJP chief Prahlad Joshi ruled out any truck with Yeddyurappa.
He said, “The BJP is not concerned with Yeddyurappa’s statement in the Assembly. We are not thinking of having any truck with any party including the KJP in the State.” Joshi, a hardcore supporter of senior BJP leader HN Ananth Kumar has confused further, and many supporters of Yeddyurappa in the BJP feel that it was a deliberate ploy to scuttle the effort to bring him back to fight the Congress in the ensuing elections.
A close confidant of Yeddyurappa supporter and a former Minister in the BJP Government told The Pioneer that it was to create confusion and to scuttle their effort, to bring Yeddyurappa back in the party. He said, “It is a deliberate ploy to scuttle our effort to bring him back to the party. This statement ahead of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s visit to the State was to confuse the workers.”
A senior functionary in the BJP confirmed the effort to bring Yeddy-urappa back to the party to fight the Congress in the ensuing elections. He said, “We can’t miss this opportunity. We have to fight the Congress. Senior leaders in Delhi are at it.”
Yeddyurappa sprang a surprise on Wednesday by making his intention clear to come back to the BJP and hinted at his return to party. Even as the BJP caught in a flip flop over former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa’s return to their fold, the ongoing winter session of the Karnataka Assembly had witnessed bonhomie between both of them, an indication of coming near to each other.