Veteran Karnataka leader BS Yediyurappa was on Wednesday, August 17 appointed to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) highest decision making body – the Central Parliamentary Board. At 79 years, he is the senior most leader on the board. What made the BJP senior leadership break its tradition of shifting its leaders to the Margadarshak Mandal (advisory board) after they turn 75?
The Lingayats still form a large chunk of the BJP’s vote base in Karnataka. While there are no census numbers in the public domain for over a decade, the Lingayat population is usually pegged at around 17% of the state’s total population. Despite the party replacing Yediyurappa with another Lingayat – Basavaraj Bommai – as the Chief Minister, there is a feeling in the community that the BJP sidelined its tallest leader. So with Yediyurappa’s appointment to the Parliamentary Board, the BJP hopes to rectify this.
With Yediyurappa neither in the government nor holding any senior position in the party, many of his supporters and followers felt they had nobody to reach out to. With Yediyurappa now given direct access to the BJP senior leadership, the party hopes to retain his supporters ahead of the crucial Karnataka elections.
Yediyurappa is not only the BJP’s tallest leader in Karnataka, but no other leader across the south has his stature. Though he had largely limited himself to Karnataka so far, his inputs will be crucial for the BJP high command’s ‘mission south’ expansion plan.
After the Karnataka cadre rebelled against the party following the muder of a karyakarta last month, the morale has been low. The 40% bribe allegations from the contractors association and the Opposition and open infighting between sitting ministers has dented the confidence of the BJP workers in the state. Yediyurappa’s elevation is the high command’s way of reassuring the state leaders and party workers of their confidence and interest in the state.
It may be recalled that in 2012, a disgruntled Yediyurappa had walked away, formed his own party and ensured the BJP’s defeat in the 2013 Assembly elections. In 2022, while he might be dealing with a more assertive high command, a miffed Yediyurappa can still damage the party’s prospects. And his elevation is the senior leadership’s way of keeping him happy and the party out of harm’s way.