Karnataka   

Rift in BJP over ministerial berths

BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party State unit is threatened with dissension at a crucial moment when the Chief Minister is set to seek a trust vote in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

According to party sources, senior leaders K.S. Eshwarappa and D.H. Shankaramurthy, who were not included in the Ministry in the first round of swearing-in of BJP Ministers on November 12, met the party senior leader L. K. Advani in Delhi on Sunday and complained to him against the Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Jagadish Shettar, who has been included in the Ministry, is also learnt to have accompanied them to Delhi.

These leaders reportedly urged the party central leadership to direct Mr. Yeddyurappa to desist from signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Janata Dal (Secular) on the list of conditions imposed by that party.

They alleged that Mr. Yeddyurappa had ignored them while making important decisions related to the party. They also expressed displeasure over party State president D.V. Sadananda Gowda endorsing Mr. Yeddyurappa’s “unilateral” decisions, the sources said.

Four BJP legislators — Govind M. Karjol, R. Ashok, V. S. Acharya and Mr. Shettar — had taken oath as Ministers on November 12 along with Mr. Yeddyurappa’s swearing-in as Chief Minister.

This created much heartburn among some senior party leaders who were upset that they did not make it to the Ministry in the first round itself.

Mr. Eshwarappa, who is senior to Mr. Yeddyurappa in the party and was former State BJP president, views his exclusion from the first round of ministry formation as a personal affront.

The group is particularly upset with the choice of Mr. Karjol as he joined the BJP only recently.

He was reportedly inducted to sideline Aravind Limbavalli, who is a confidant of H.N. Ananth Kumar, general secretary of the BJP.

The grapevine has it that the names of several senior leaders and former Ministers were not there in the list of ministerial probables prepared by the party State unit for filling its remaining share of 11 ministerial berths.

The feeling in the party circles was that the nominees of Mr. Ananth Kumar have not been accommodated in the Ministry.

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