| The north-south divide in the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit has boiled over after senior leaders and leaders of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Council, Yediurappa and Shankara Murthy, threatened to quit the party over "non-consultation" in the appointment of office-bearers by state party chief Jagdish Shettar.
|
| |
| The Karnataka BJP has always found its spiritual support from the north of the state, with the two senior leaders Yediurappa and Shankara Murthy hailing from the northern Shimoga district.
|
| |
| The leadership of the south of the state though has always dominated in Delhi, with Bangalore MP Ananth Kumar and former Mangalore MP Dhananjaya Kumar being made ministers in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
|
| |
| There has always been an uneasy truce between the two factions, which finally broke when Shettar, who is considered a close to Anantha Kumar, announced his new team of office-bearers. It was, according to detractors, made up entirely of people close to Kumar.
|
| |
| According to Shankaramurthy, a senior BJP leader in Karnataka, he was not upset with who had been selected as office-bearers, but the manner in which the selection was done. "There was no consultation with senior leaders, and the selection was done in a thoroughly undemocratic manner," he said.
|
| |
| "The people in the team are all good, but the appointments were made in a dictatorial manner," he said.
|
| |
| The problem for the Shimoga leaders has been compounded by the fact that former Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa, who joined the BJP just before the 2004 general elections and is a member of the Lok Sabha from that area, has been ignored in Delhi, even though Sadananda Gowda, elected from Mangalore has been prabhari for Goa.
|
| |
| Add to this the fact that Kumar has been general secretary of the national chapter of the BJP, and the factional cauldron is boiling over.
|
| |
| The angry Murthy and Yediurappa have shot off a letter to Karnataka party in charge VP Goel, who has promised to visit the state in a day or two to clarify matters.
|
| |
| "We have threatened to resign from our posts as leader of the opposition in the Assembly and council, but we are confident that the Central leadership will be able to resolve the problem," said Shankaramurthy.
|
| |
| The BJP in Karnataka started becoming a force in the late 80s, before which it had a presence of only six MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly. Shankaramurthy and Yediurappa who joined the party in its infancy in the state are now feeling ignored after the party became the biggest party in the Assembly. |
| |
|
| |
Content Guide
