Bengaluru, Oct 22: Notwithstanding party leaders’ diktat, senior Karnataka BJP leader, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, continued to fire salvos targeting Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa through his fan pages in Facebook on Wednesday.
His official Twitter handle shot back at his critics within the party stating that he won’t fall at anyone’s feet to become a minister.
“I raise my voice for the welfare of the state, not for personal gains. Let my critics be aware that I am not a pimp to fall at someone’s feet to get my work done,” he said, after he was criticised for his remarks on Tuesday that Yediyurappa will be replaced by the party high command in the BJP soon.
Yatnal’s fan pages continued to target BJP state unit Vice President B.Y. Vijayendra, the son of Chief Minister Yediyurappa.
His fan pages further added that Yediyurappa should come out openly stating why only Vijyendra’s name comes forward when there are thousands of ‘karyakartas’ (workers) working on the ground and even senior leaders are allocated responsibilities to ensure BJP’s victory in bypolls.
Taking a direct dig at Vijayendra, one of his fan pages said, “People of north Karnataka will not forgive those who are doing politics using his father’s name and speak ill about north Karnataka.”
Yatnal did not revert to several attempts to reach him.
He is one of the very few hardcore Hindutva leaders from the Lingyat community of Karnataka.
He is also one of the architects of the BJP gaining roots in this region, mainly due to his fiery speeches.
He is a legislator from the Bijapur city constituency, which has a sizeable Muslim voters. The Congress had mostly favoured to field Muslim candidates from this seat.
For his unabashed statements, he has even fallen out with the BJP in the past and was also expelled from the party for six years. When he was expelled, he had headed the JD(S) state unit as well.
Meanwhile, taking serious note of his statements, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa demanded that the party should expel Yatnal without even seeking any explanation from him. “He is known for making such statements,” he said.
BJP’s national general secretary C.T. Ravi stated that the party high command is capable of tackling such issues.
“Yatnal is a senior leader. I have not reached his level. I do not want to speak about him. But one thing is clear that the party high command is watching this development very closely,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP state unit President Nalin Kumar Kattel took to Twitter to assert that there is no vacancy for CM’s post for the next three years. “Our leader is Yediyurappa and he will be CM for next three years,” he said.
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