Rebel BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa continued his attacks on his party colleagues especially deputy chief minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who he said was enjoying power only because he took several risks to ensure a BJP government was formed in 2008 after the assembly polls. He did not spare other BJP leaders either saying they did not have the administrative skills of the ‘outsiders’ he brought into the cabinet—new entrants like Umesh Katti, Basavaraj Bommai and V. Somanna.
Speaking to reporters in Chikmagalur, Mr Yeddyurappa quipped that leaders from the party who were made ministers, did not even know how to handle officers. "If I had not dared to induct the outsiders who came in from the Congress and JD(S), the quality of governance would have touched a new low a long time ago. Barring one or two ministers who were party oldtimers, the others from the cadre were not even average," he said.
Eshwarappa, the former CM said, had been taking potshots at him even when he was power minister in his cabinet. If the BJP had earned a good name, it was only because of his farsightedness in bringing in "experienced" leaders from other parties who managed the state‘s affairs and helped the party make inroads into various other communities which had earlier stayed away from the party, claimed Mr Yeddyurappa.
He gave enough indications that he would not like to stay in the BJP for long saying there was no respect for him. "Aren't they greedy? At least, I am not a power monger. When the party allowed me to form the first BJP-JD(S) government in 2006, I could have easily demanded the CM's post but I did not. For the last 45 years, I have never demanded any post from the national leadership. Now, when I ask them to fulfill the promise they made (party president’s post), they say I am after power? Do you think this is right" he asked the crowd which gathered to see him.