Expelled BJP leader Yatnal threatens to float ‘Hindutva’ party

Karnataka presents a unique challenge to the BJP, unlike its other units elsewhere in the country. The BJP in Karnataka is not made up of leaders with a homogeneous thought process and unity of thoughts, as it is an amalgamation of people from different parties and schools of thought.

This is why individual BJP leaders in Karnataka, despite their diverse backgrounds, often rebel against the leadership and even bring it to its knees—like BS Yeddyurappa, who quit, formed a party, and taught the BJP a lesson.

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Although not a big name, compared to Yeddyurappa, former senior BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal—expelled from the party for six years over “anti-party activities and charges of indiscipline’—has threatened to launch his own party if the BJP did not dump its dynastic politics. He told media persons on Sunday that if the son of former CM, Vijayendra, continued in the dominant position in the BJP Karnataka, he would float a party focusing on Hindutva and pitch for the comprehensive development of northern Karnataka.

The BJP too has in the past spoken about regional imbalances but did precious little to address them while in government. Yatnal said that Karnataka needs a strong leader like Yogi Adityanath or Himanta Biswa Sarma, who would run the state on principles of Hindutva. Yeddyurappa and his son Vijayendra are not only corrupt but also engaged in adjustment politics. They have failed to protect Hindutva activists in Karnataka,” Yatnal said, launching a frontal attack on dynastic politics in the state.

“Karnataka also needs an honest Chief Minister. If I become CM, I will complete all pending irrigation projects at a much lower cost than the present estimates,” Yatnal said, hinting that both the BJP and Congress were corrupt.

He has set Vijaya Dashami as the deadline to act on his threat. “I will consider quitting the BJP and forming a new party if the BJP high command does not rid the party of the Yediyurappa family. If the BJP high command, in its wisdom, REMOVES Mr Yediyurappa and his children, I will return to the BJP. Or else, I will chart my own path,” the expelled BJP leader said.

Ruling out the possibility of either returning to the JD(S), where he came from, or joining the Congress, he said he would tour the entire state and meet his supporters and Hindutva activists to garner support for his proposed party. With so much happening, it is not sure that the BJP is not going to take back Yatnal, said former MLA S Patil Nadahalli.

“Mr Yatnal has been criticising every leader starting from B Y Vijayendra to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for no valid reason. He has used unparliamentary words against former CM B S Yediyurappa. He has been claiming that he would seek readmission if the BJP reduced Yediyurappa’s control over the state unit. That is meaningless. Yediyurappa is the tallest leader of the party. He has been large-hearted and has forgiven all the loose talk by Mr Yatnal, but now, he will never be readmitted,” Nadahalli said in Muddebihal in Vijayapura on Monday.