Bengaluru:
He may not have been breathing fire and brimstone as he has done these past weeks in the run up to the final assault on his former party, the BJP, when he formally launches his breakaway Karn ataka Janata Party on Sunday in the northern Lingayat stronghold of Haveri. Instead, the B.S. Yeddyurappa who greeted us warmly at the presidential suite of the West End hotel for an extended lunch on Wednesday exuded an inner strength that screamed confidence.
“The time for a regional party has come,” said the former chief minister. “Karnataka is ready for a regional strongman.”
With none of the usual vitriol he reserves for the party he exited, or even the rival JD(S), whom he believes is losing ground, he took pains to explain why he broke with the BJP, saying that after months of being at the receiving end of much aggravation, the final trigger for his exit was the cold shoulder from the two men assigned by the BJP top brass to talk to him.
“Three months ago, BJP Karnataka in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and Santosh came to me. I told them, you make me the party president. I was ready not to contest the assembly elections. I did not want to be chief minister. My concern was, the party should not slip. But the high command never came back to me; these men did not return even one of my calls.” Saying Arun Jaitley continued to remain his well-wisher until the end, he said “they” pushed him into exiting the party, refusing steadfastly to name who “they” were.
Vowing to never go back to the BJP, he said: “If Modi (Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi) becomes PM or not, I will not go back. I have moved on. Even if they beg me to, I will not return.”
On the chances of a regional party floated by regional satraps surviving in Karnataka given the manner in which other stalwarts like former chief ministers Ramakrishna Hegde, Devaraj Urs and S. Bangarappa had failed, Yeddyurappa said times were different, and that his experiment would bring a Karunanidhi or a Mulayam Singh Yadav to the state of Karnataka.
“You mentioned Nijalingappa, Urs, Hegde. Yes, they tried their hands experimenting with a regional party. But, theirs was a half-hearted experiment, so they failed. Look at Mulayam or Karunanidhi. The time is ripe for a regional party. And mine will not be a half-hearted attempt. I am determined and aggressive. You will see the result for yourself.”
What of the much speculated alliance with the Congress “My dear, I am contesting all the 224 constituencies. Why should I go near the Congress If God wills it, I will become CM again. I don’t need the Congress.”
