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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Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Hindutva played an important role in the recent state assembly elections, and counter-polarisation helped the Mahayuti alliance score a big win.
Fadnavis, who took oath as Maharashtra chief minister for the third time on Thursday, said in an interview to ABP news channel that Hindutva and development are two sides of the same coin and described BJP's Hindutva as a way of life.
He also alleged that opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had an agreement with people like (Islamic scholar) Sajjad Nomani, wherein it was agreed to withdraw cases of riots filed against Muslims since 2012.
During the election campaign, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had raised the "batenge toh katenge" (divided we are destroyed) slogan, which was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "ek hain toh safe hain" (united we are safe) call.
While campaigning, Fadnavis had countered the purported appeal by Nomani for a "vote-jihad" against the Mahayuti government by making a pitch for "dharma-yudh of votes".
In the interview, Fadnavis said, "The voter turnout increased because Congress tried to suppress Hindus. When you try to suppress someone, they rise strongly. Hindutva played an important role and counter-polarisation helped the Mahayuti alliance. Our development schemes and Hindutva worked. Hindutva and development are two sides of the same coin."
The voter turnout in this year's assembly polls was 66.05 per cent, up from 61.1 per cent in 2019.
"BJP's Hindutva is a way of life and not related to religious rituals. Muslims have different religious rituals. One should not have a narrow-minded view of Hindutva," Fadnavis said.
Through his actions, PM Modi has shown what inclusive Hindutva is, he added.
"Those who used to be scared of going to temples for fear of losing Muslim votes, are now frequently visiting them," he said in an apparent dig at Congress Rahul Gandhi.
Apart from Fadnavis as CM, Shiv Sena chief leader Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief ministers of the state.
On the cabinet expansion, Fadnavis said it be done before December 16, when the winter session of the state legislature starts in Nagpur.
"There are three parties and each of them will be given their due respect. We are almost there. Discussions are on for portfolio allocation," he said.
"I will try to establish a dialogue with all political leaders which has stopped since 2019," he said.
Fadnavis said he has changed for the better since 2014.
The Mahayuti alliance won a whopping 230 assembly seats in Maharashtra, out of the total 288. The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP got 41 seats.