Yeddyurappa confidantes argue strongly in his favour

A Karnataka minister and an MLA, loyalists of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, on Friday hit out at his detractors and threatened they would not remain silent if state BJP chief K S Eshwarappa and others continued to criticise or make harsh remarks against him.

The party central leadership should convince Yeddyurappa about his future role in the state politics and comments by a section of state BJP leaders would widen the rift within the state unit, state Excise Minister M P Renukacharya and Sagar BJP MLA Belur Gopalakrishna said.

Yeddyurappa has undergone a lot of pain after resigning as chief minister and made some remarks against Eshwarappa on account of the failure of the party high command’s indecision about his role in the state politics, they said. They appealed to the central leaders to acknowledge Yeddyurappa’s contributions to the party and hold talks with him to solve the issue related to leadership, Gopalakrishna said.

Both leaders said ever since Eshwarappa assumed office, he had been making statements branding Yeddyurppa as guilty. Renukacharya said: “Yeddyurappa built a good house (the party) and no one should make efforts to divide it.” Some state BJP leaders have been making sarcastic remarks against Yeddyurappa, who is facing charges of corruption. It was not good on the part of the leaders to make ‘silly’ remarks against the former chief minister on a daily basis.

The central leaders of the party have to put in place the role and responsibilities of each leader in the state, Gopalakrishna said. Yeddyurappa yesterday charged Eshwarappa with trying to oust him from the party and being responsible for sending him to jail.