With Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yedyurappa flexing his muscles demanding action against the dissidents, BJP General Secretary Arun Singh may be sent to Bengaluru to bring the rift between the two rival camps under check.
A divided BJP is politically advantageous to the Congress which was ousted from the seat of power under Yeddyurappa’s “operation Kamal” in July, 2019.
The political situation of State has been on the boil for last several months with a section of dissidents wanting ouster of Yeddyurappa. In the midst of all these, six months ago, the Chief Minister carried out a Cabinet reshuffle and gave away plum portfolios. But within days, he again came under pressure to redistribute portfolios, leaving many more BJP MLAs disgruntled in the State.
Charges against his elder son of “running a parallel administration” and interference in various Ministries have worsened the situation for the BJP.
The loyalist of “Lingayat” leader are now ready to take head-on the rebels with 65 MLAs signing a petition which is to be submitted to the visiting Central BJP leaders, demanding firm action against the dissidents, according to sources.
The Yeddyurappa camp is to submit its petition to the BJP General Secretary and Karnataka-in-charge Arun Singh who will be visiting the State during the next ten days, sources said.
Karnataka is facing a grim Covid19 situation where even though the coronavirus cases have witnessed a slight decline, the death rate has gone-up.
The BJP central leadership will not allow the situation in the key Southern State to drift and give the Opposition an opportunity to sneak back to power, said a senior State party leader.
BJP has yet no other strong Llingayat leader with a political base matching Yeddyurappa. ‘Lingayat’ form 10-11 percent of the State population, mainly in Northern Karnataka.