BJP expels rebel Karnataka leader KS Eshwarappa for six years
Bengaluru, Apr 22: The BJP on Monday expelled rebel leader K S Eshwarappa for six years for violating party discipline and contesting Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate.
The former deputy chief minister who had also served as the party's state unit president, has entered the poll fray, blaming state BJP president B Y Vijayendra and his father and veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa, for his son K E Kantesh being denied the ticket to contest from Haveri.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has got BJP's Haveri ticket, while Vijayendra's brother and MP B Y Raghavendra is the BJP candidate from Shimoga.
"Ignoring the party's directions, you are contesting as a rebel candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, causing embarrassment to the party. This is violation of party discipline," state disciplinary committee president Lingaraj Patil said in the expulsion order.
It said, "so, you have been relieved from all the responsibilities and have been expelled from the party for six years, with immediate effect."
The 75-year-old Eshwarappa, had remained steadfast in his decision to contest, spurning efforts by party leaders to pacify him. He had even filed his nomination as an independent candidate.
The party's decision to expel the former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, came on the last day for withdrawal of candidature for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka on May 7.
Eshwarappa, along with Yediyurappa and the late H N Ananth Kumar, is widely credited for building the BJP from the grassroots in Karnataka.
Claiming that the party in the state is in the clutches of its Parliamentary board member Yediyurappa and his family, with his one son as MP and other son Vijayendra as MLA and the state BJP president, Eshwarappa, has repeatedly accused Yediyurappa of sidelining those who espoused the cause of Hindutva like Nalin Kumar Kateel, Pratap Simha, C T Ravi and D V Sadananda Gowda.
He has, however, stressed that he is not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ahead of the Assembly polls last year, opting out of the contest, he had asked the party's central leadership that he wished to retire from electoral politics and requested it to not consider fielding him from any constituency.
Modi had then dialled Eshwarappa and spoke to him over a video call and expressed appreciation for his move to retire from poll politics, as per the instructions from the party.
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BJP slams move to make CM Siddaramaiah as RDPR varsity chancellor replacing Guv
Bengaluru (PTI): Opposition BJP on Friday condemned the government's move to make the chief minister the chancellor of the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) University replacing the governor, terming it as an attempt to pollute the higher education system.
State BJP president B Y Vijayendra said this attempt to cut down on the powers of the governor is a conspiracy to upset the constitutional system.
The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved a bill, according to which the chief minister will be appointed as the chancellor, replacing the governor at the RDPR University in Gadag.
The governor is the chancellor for all public universities in Karnataka.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot currently holds the post.
"With a good intention that politics should not mix in education and as per the intent of the constitution, the Governor who is also the constitutional head of the state is the chancellor of the universities. But the government led by Siddaramaiah (CM), which is engaged in a series of corruption, by abusing its existing powers, is trying to pollute the higher education system," Vijayendra posted on 'X'.
He said the government's move will allow "unnecessary political interference" in the field of rural development studies.
"The Congress government, which has been impatient towards the governor since the beginning, sees him as an enemy to cut down on the powers, and it is a conspiracy to upset the constitutional system. This move of the state government is highly condemnable," he added.
Earlier in September, the cabinet, at a meeting held in Kalaburagi, decided to divest the governor of the power to appoint the vice-chancellor of RDPR University.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil on Thursday defended the government's move and said, "It will make the university more active and quick decisions will be taken...this system is there in many states, including Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh."
