Amit Shah V/s BS Yediyurappa : All Is Well or All is Not Well?

At a time when Coronavirus has forced people to remain locked in their houses or maintain minimal contact among themselves, the Karnataka political game is completely unlocked. This time, as per rumours, it is Amit Shah vs the Current Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa. Yes, you heard it right, the Saffron house in Karnataka is on fire as per rumours and the leadership in Delhi is against the State leadership in Karnataka.

In Karnataka assembly, which has a total strength of 224, BJP has a comfortable majority of 117 Assembly seats and 3 Independent MLAs also supports BSY’s government. Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yediyurappa is 77 now and by the time BJP completes its tenure in Karnataka he will be 80 years old. BJP and Sangh have always maintained a rule of retiring its leaders or Pracharaks when they attain the age of 75. The party leadership knows that the Lingayat, BSY, is now old enough to be retired. However, BJP fought the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election as well as the Lok Sabha election in the state under his leadership. BJP performed exceptionally well in both the cases, therefore BSY fits the case of “Age is not the limit” when it comes to dealing with the state politics of Karnataka.

Election season in Karnataka is set to begin and this time it is election for sending 4 leaders from Karnataka to Upper House of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha. On 19^th June the election will be held and it is believed that all four candidates that includes candidates from BJP, Congress and JD(s) are set to be elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed.

Then what is the fight all about? In politics there is a story behind every political incident. BJP’s Iranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti are all set to enter Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, however, both the names don’t sound to be familiar with BJP’s Karanataka leadership. The core committee of the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party unit recommended the names of Prabhakar Kore, Ramesh Katti and Prakash Shetty to the party high command for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. But “High Command” in Delhi rejected all three names and  Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, however, relatively unknown names were listed as BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidates from Karnataka.

CM Yediyurappa was quick to react and pacify that “All is Well” in BJP in Karnataka. He said, “The BJP central leadership, by giving the seat to ordinary party workers, has given a gift. I thank them. I have faith the candidates will do good work in the Rajya Sabha. Perhaps the BJP is the only party which would take such a decision of giving this charge to ordinary members.”

Whatever be the reasons and whosoever be in command in the fight amongst the leaders, there is always a happy face that the common people sees on the face of their leaders. Congress has already announced veteran party leader Mallikarjuna Kharge as its candidate, while JD(S) which has 34 MLAs and would require 10 additional votes named their party veteran and former Prime Minister of India HD Deva Gowda as their candidate. If it were not COVID-19 crisis we could have seen a fight on the fourth seat where former PM would be elected to Rajya Sabha. However, a surprise may happen or may not, let us all wait and enjoy Karnataka’s politics.