Roughhousing in Karnataka: BJP's deepest division in the opposition

The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka

In more than half a dozen states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in the Opposition.

 

In Jharkhand it has been out of power for five years, but it robustly criticises the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the ruling party, regularly, focusing on deficiencies in governance and delivery. In West Bengal, despite periodic internal differences among leaders on how the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government should be targeted, the Opposition is fierce. In Punjab, it is yet to emerge as a significant Opposition voice. It tries in Delhi.

 

But wherever it is in the Opposition, nowhere is the party as much at odds with itself as it is in Karnataka. Internal squabbling spilled out into the open after the results of the by-elections last month, all of which the BJP lost. Three Assembly seats — Shiggaon, Sandur, and Channapatna — fell vacant after their representatives resigned on being elected to the Lok Sabha. The Shiggaon seat was held by BJP leader and former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was elected to the Haveri Lok Sabha seat.

 

Channapatna was earlier represented by H D Kumaraswamy, who had defeated the BJP in the previous election when his party, the Janata Dal (Secular), was in alliance with the Congress. Now he is a Union minister and a BJP ally.

 

The Congress retained the Sandur constituency, where E Tukaram had won in the previous election, defeating the BJP.

 

Although in regionally disparate areas, the losses had one thing in common. A section of the BJP blamed it all on the state party president, B Y Vijayendra, whose father, B S Yediyurappa, is among the Karnataka BJP’s towering leaders.

 

This is not the first internal spat the party has faced in the state. The current tussle is between Mr Vijayendra and the team headed by former Union minister and MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal.

 

Mr Yatnal and his team — currently in New Delhi to petition the BJP’s leadership — say the president’s performance is suboptimal. They argue that Mr Vijayendra’s only credentials are that he is his father’s son. This is not quite true: His contribution in growing the BJP in areas where it never had a presence, like South Karnataka, has been impressive. His appointment, seven months after the BJP’s disastrous performance in the Assembly elections, suggested the party’s central leadership had thought long and hard before giving him the job: A leader was needed who was acceptable all over the state. The Lok Sabha election results showed it was the right decision: The BJP’s national numbers came down in the Lok Sabha polls but in Karnataka of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP won 19.

 

But Mr Yatnal and co feels Mr Vijayendra should be sent home. So much so that on the Waqf land-encroachment issue, Mr Yatnal ignored the state party’s campaign, launching his own padayatra from Bidar with banners that featured images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but none of Mr Vijayendra. The Bidar unit of the BJP filed police reports against Mr Yatnal. The group got implicit backing from the B L Santhosh faction as C T Ravi, member of the Legislative Council and considered a Santhosh acolyte, joined the padayatra.

 

Assembly elections in Karnataka are due in May 2028. But Mr Yatnal’s ambitions are undisguised. “I am not a selfless politician or a saint. I will become Karnataka’s no 1 politician in the coming days. The media will come to me after I become chief minister,” he told local media in Belagavi last week.

 

Karnataka is one of the states that triggered Hindu mobilisation in 1992 following the Idgah Maidan controversy in Hubbali and contributed the largest complement of activists during the Ram Mandir rath yatra. It is not known for indiscipline. And so the ordinary BJP worker is confused. He would like to see action against dissidence, while acknowledging that the issues raised by Mr Yatnal are ideologically powerful.

 

Mr Vijayendra and his supporters have said they would be happy to talk to Mr Yatnal. They also feel this kind of activity derails the BJP’s primary duty as Opposition.

 

But there are wheels within wheels. In the past, Siddaramaiah, chief minister and Congress leader, has had cordial relations with Mr Yediyurappa. At his birthday celebrations four years ago, when Mr Yediyurappa was chief minister, Mr Siddaramaiah not only attended the function but complimented him on his commitment and sincerity. Many in the Yatnal group see a conspiracy between the Siddaramaiah-led Congress group struggling to stave off covert attacks from within, and the Vijayendra-led BJP.

 

This is only a suspicion: There is no factual basis for it. Mr Vijayendra is conscious that he has to show his mettle and re-establish the BJP’s primacy in Karnataka. But his supporters say he cannot do so with one hand tied behind his back.