BENGALURU:
In what appeared to be a face-saving exercise, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said on Tuesday that the BJP’s top brass in Delhi had kept him in the loop over its choice of two ‘low-profile’ nominees, Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, for the June 19 RS polls from Karnataka.
The central leadership had rejected the state BJP committee’s choice of tycoons Ramesh Katti, Prabhakar Kore and Prakash Shetty. It is being seen as a setback for the CM, as the local choices were considered close to him.
Speaking to reporters, the CM called the central leadership’s choice a ‘gift to karyakartas’ and complimented the PM, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the decision.
Kadadi, a Lingayat, is the party’s Belagavi in-charge, while Gasti from the barber community is the Bellary in-charge.
A senior partyman observed that the central leadership’s choice was “a clear indication that loyalty to the party and ideology, not to any particular leader, is what matters.”
The development comes on the heels of rumoured dissidence against Yediyurappa within the state party.
