BSY to boycott BJP meet
Continuing his vitriolic attack against senior BJP leaders, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said he would stay away from the crucial two-day national executive scheduled to commence in Mumbai on May 24 to protest against the treatment meted out to him by his party leaders in recent months.
The former CM, who reportedly gave an earful to the leader in charge of Karnataka affairs, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, during meetings over the last two days, embarrassed central leaders by praising Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who is likely to skip the national executive, and spoke of how the party’s edifice was crumbling in view of internal problems not only here but also in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
“Mr Modi is a straightforward man and a dynamic chief minister,” he said while hurling barbs at party patriarch L.K. Advani and the ageing leader’s protégé, general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, during his first interaction with mediapersons on Saturday at his newly opened office. Mr Yeddyurappa’s outbursts came on a day when Mr Pradhan returned to New Delhi after eliciting the opinions of leaders and legislators on how to resolve the crisis plaguing the state unit.
“I have taken the views of ministers and state BJP leaders on internal issues of the party. I will submit a detailed report to the central leadership based on views expressed by state leaders and ministers,” Mr Pradhan said. Earlier, he declined to meet a group of six ministers, all supporters of Mr Yeddyurappa, but then relented and held one-on-one meetings with each of them.
But, in order to demonstrate his ire against central party leaders, Mr Yeddyurappa announced he would not accept any position in future. Admitting that he demanded either reinstatement as CM or appointment as state unit president, he said, “I wish to clarify that if the party leadership offers any position, I will not accept the same. But I must be treated with respect by the party.”
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