New Delhi/Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Wednesday said he has explained to the party leadership in detail the alleged "adjustment politics, grand corruption and dynastic politics" prevailing in the Karnataka unit of the party.
The MLA said he has submitted a six-page reply to the notice served to him by BJP Central Disciplinary Committee (CDC) member secretary Om Pathak for his “tirade against the state-level party leadership and defiance of party directives.”
“In my letter, I have said that our party should come out of the adjustment politics, grand corruption, clutches of dynastic politics and the voice of Hindutva should grow stronger because UP, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh are now leaning towards Hindutva,” Yatnal told reporters in New Delhi.
According to him, people of Karnataka are not ready to accept anyone against Hindutva.
“I have also explained the serious cases against Yediyurappa and his family and the adjustment politics,” Yatnal added.
He said he demanded a neutral national leader for Karnataka.
Yatnal said that there were many neutral leaders, who were unhappy with the Yediyurappa family, but they are not speaking against the former CM because of internal discipline.
Yatnal is a strong critic of BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa and his family, especially his son and the party's Karnataka chief B Y Vijayendra.
He has often targeted them and demanded that the BJP central leadership check Yediyurappa's 'dynasty politics' in order to fight against the 'dynasty politics' of Congress effectively.
Yatnal along with a few senior BJP leaders, including MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, Arvind Limbavali, Mahesh Kumtahalli, and Madhu
Bangarappa had taken out a month-long anti-Waqf march from Bidar to Chamarajanagar. The march started on November 25 and will conclude on December 25.
The march is widely perceived as a show of strength by the anti-Vijayendra faction within the BJP. Yatnal has said the march was not directed against any individual but aimed at "protecting farmers, Sanatana Dharma, and Hindus from eviction notices issued by the state Waqf Board."
However, the march is perceived as a show of strength against Yediyurappa and Vijayendra. It does not have the sanction of the state party leadership.
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Bengaluru, Dec 7: Rejecting calls for B Y Vijayendra's ouster as Karnataka BJP president, party national general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agrawal on Saturday said the leadership is not changed based on someone's demand.
Any action against senior MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who has been served a show cause notice, will be decided by high command based on his response, he said.
The state BJP core committee that met, amid factional rift within the BJP with the Yatnal-led group openly criticising Vijayendra and not accepting his leadership, discussed controlling such acts of "indiscipline" in consultation with the high command.
It was also decided at the meeting to bring to the notice of the party's national leadership for strict action against MLAs S T Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, who are involved in "anti-party" activities and have identified themselves with the Congress party.
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"The power to change or decide on the party leadership (in the state) lies with the grassroot level workers or with the national leadership of the party. No other individual has such powers," Agrawal said responding to a question about Yatnal and the team talking about changing leadership in the state.
Speaking to reporters after the core committee meeting, he said, "Party leadership is not changed based on someone's demand. Whatever is appropriate based on organisational requirements at that point in time, decisions are accordingly made. Today Vijayendra is appropriate, so he is our state president."
A faction of party leaders led by Yatnal, which includes MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, B P Harish, and former lawmakers Aravind Limbavali, Kumar Bangarappa and G M Siddeshwara among others, are critical of state leadership, especially Vijayendra.
Yatnal and a few of these leaders have been openly critical of Vijayendra, accusing him of indulging in "adjustment politics" with the ruling Congress. They also accused him and his father, veteran leader B S Yediyurappa, of trying to keep the party under their clutches.
Responding to a question, Agrawal said, "There is nothing like Yatnal versus Vijayendra or Yatnal versus BJP in Karnataka... a show cause notice has been given to Yatnal and we will wait for his reply."
Once the response to the show cause notice is received, the party will decide the next course of action, he said, adding that "...we are not only talking about taking action, but we are also talking about not taking action. Everything will depend on what happens."
The BJP's central disciplinary committee earlier this week issued a show cause notice to Yatnal for "defiance" and hurling "false and veiled" allegations against the party's state leadership, especially Vijayendra.
Yatnal, who subsequently met leaders in Delhi, said he had submitted a six-page reply to the notice served to him, and has explained to the party leadership in detail, the alleged "adjustment politics, grand corruption and dynastic politics" prevailing in the Karnataka unit of the party.
Speaking to reporters after the crore committee meeting, Vijayendra said, at the meeting it was decided to control "indiscipline" activities of some party leaders that has been going on for a few months now, bringing it to the notice of the high command.
To a question on action against Yatnal and team, he said, the matter is already before the party high command. "He (Yatnal) had also appeared before the disciplinary committee. The ball is already in the high command's court, they will decide."
The state BJP chief said, at the core committee meeting, it was unanimously decided to take strict action against MLAs S T Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar who are involved in "anti-party" activities and have identified themselves with the Congress party.
"Things will be brought to the notice of the party's national president and a decision will be taken at the earliest. At the core committee meeting, almost every member was of the view that a decision should be taken regarding suspending them and moving for their disqualification as MLAs immediately, in consultation with the high command," he said.
Vijayendra further said, the core committee discussed the party's defeat in Sandur and Shiggaon Assembly bypolls recently, and decided to constitute a fact finding team led by former chief minister D V Sadananada Gowda and party vice president N Mahesh.