Vijayendra Yediyurappa: The linchpin in Karnataka BJP's strategic overhaul

Bookanakere Yediyurappa Vijayendra (48) assumed the role of the new chief of the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week. A former senior minister, present at the ceremony at the party’s Malleswaram office, succinctly captured the mood: “What earlier used to look like a graveyard now looks like a festival.” A supporter of Vijayendra added, “The ceremony told a story — about how Vijayendra will be able to bring all leaders of the BJP together on a single platform.”

Uniting the BJP is only one of the many challenges Vijayendra, the younger son of former chief minister (CM) Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa, faces as he takes on his new role.

One of the first things he did was send out a message that some might consider cheeky.

While thanking Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda for his appointment, he added BJP National Organising Secretary Bommarabettu Laxmijanardhana Santhosh to the list of those to whom he expressed “deepest gratitude and sincerest thanks”.

“Santhosh was appointed organising secretary in the state in 2006. He was tasked with building an alternative Other Backward Class leadership in the BJP’s state unit and creating an alternative to Yediyurappa. However, locally, his effect was limited. He merely replaced the (late) Anantha Kumar as Yediyurappa’s prime baiter,” says Sugata Srinivasaraju, the biographer of former Prime Minister Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda and a keen observer of politics in Karnataka.

Santhosh went on to become the national organising secretary but also a pole of power in the BJP in the state.

Santhosh is not the only one.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje was at one time considered Yediyurappa’s right hand, especially when he broke away from the BJP in 2012 to form the Karnataka Janata Paksha after major differences with the leadership.

Karandlaje joined him and returned to the BJP with him in 2014. A member of the Vokkaliga community, she is a Lok Sabha (LS) Member of Parliament representing the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency. She had hoped to emerge as the heir to Yediyurappa’s political capital in the BJP but may now find herself confined to politics in Delhi.

The presence of leaders like K S Eshwarappa and Govind Makthappa Karjol (a Dalit leader and former deputy CM), who were seen as rivals to Yediyurappa at the ceremony, suggests acceptance of Vijayendra as a leader “who is young and politically sharp”, says Srinivasaraju.

Vijayendra shot into the limelight in 2019 when Yediyurappa became CM for the fourth time after several Members of Legislative Assembly from the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) combine defected and joined the BJP.

Vijayendra was seen as the power behind the throne. When the High Command in the BJP kicked Yediyurappa upstairs by making him a member of the Margadarshak Mandal and getting him to step down from the chief ministership, it was Vijayendra who organised support for his father via endorsements from Lingayat Mutts (seminaries), which have a powerful influence in Karnataka politics.

The top leadership in the BJP recognises that if neglected, the Lingayats could return to Congress. This could be a factor in Vijayendra’s appointment.

At the same time, he proved himself by ensuring the BJP’s 2019 victory in a by-election in the Krishnaraja Pete constituency in Mandya district in Old Mysuru, where the BJP has never been in serious contention.

Other by-election victories followed.

Observers in the state suggest these victories could be considered Yediyurappa’s gift to his son: a strategic political friendship between Yediyurappa and current CM Siddaramaiah is a well-known fact in Karnataka. The two leaders are united in their pushback against Deve Gowda and his clan.

This makes Vijayendra’s current job harder.

The BJP has recently entered into an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). Maintaining a relationship with Siddaramaiah while simultaneously negotiating with Janata Dal (Secular) could prove a challenge for him.

The BJP has never really had a problem functioning as an Opposition party in Karnataka. But that is a project that Vijayendra can afford to postpone, though not for long.

Vijayendra contested the Assembly elections in 2023 from his father’s seat in Shikaripura (in Shimoga district). He got 49 per cent of the vote, but the margin of victory was just around 11,000 votes.

However, the more immediate task is managing the party’s LS campaign, from framing the issues to managing the choice of candidates.

For instance, former railway minister and CM Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda has recently announced his ‘retirement’ from active politics and has criticised the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership for the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in public statements. He is unlikely to be fielded from Bangalore North, his LS constituency.

Vijayendra will have to decide who should replace Sadananda. More surprises cannot be ruled out. In 2019, the BJP won 25 of 28 LS seats in Karnataka.

He will also have to maintain a working relationship with the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. Although the Assembly election was held in May, the BJP was unable to appoint its leader in the House until last week, testifying to the divisions in the party and evoking great derision from the Congress over the logjam.

On Friday, five months after the election results were announced, the BJP appointed Ramaiah Ashoka, a Vokkaliga leader, as the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka legislative Assembly.

Ashoka, 59, a seven-time legislator, was the deputy CM in the BJP government from July 2102 to May 2013.

Vijayendra’s plate is full, with the positive and negative legacy of his father and the management of the upcoming LS elections. With becoming modesty, he told Business Standard in a phone conversation that he “relies on his seniors and well-wishers for their advice” and hoped, “I will not let them down”.

But this alone may not be enough.

FOR BJP, EVEN LINGAYAT VOTE NOT CASTE IN STONE

·         In the May Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) performed poorly, even in seats traditionally dominated by the Lingayat community

·         It faced significant setbacks in its long-standing strongholds in Kittur Karnataka (Bombay Karnataka) and Central Karnataka regions, where at least 69 seats are Lingayat-dominated

·         In Central Karnataka, the BJP managed to secure only 6 of 35 seats (a notable decline from 24 in 2018), while the Congress emerged victorious in 27 seats, and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 2

·         Within the Kittur Karnataka region, the BJP claimed victory in 16 of 50 seats (a decrease from 30 in 2018), while the Congress saw an increase to 33 seats (up from 17)