Opinion is divided among top leaders over fielding the former Rajya Sabha member as they say it is a party “slight” to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Former Union minister V Dhananjaya Kumar was the choice of the chief minister.
And Yeddyurappa had informed all top leaders about his nominee during his last two visits to the capital over the last one week.
Many “outsiders” have become Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka. The BJP itself has got elected M Venkaiah Naidu three times.
Earlier, the Janata Party/Dal governments had selected Ram Jethmalani and MAM Ramaswamy to contest from the state. The Congress can claim that it has not fielded any outsider from the state so far.
Virtual ‘insult’
Referring to the virtual “insult” delivered to Yeddyurappa, some leaders privately wonder whether the high command would have imposed a similar “outsider” as party candidate on Gujarat where Narendra Modi, a strong BJP leader, is the chief minister.
They said “the party will think twice before doing the same with Modi.”
Now, there are four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat due for elections. The BJP is sure to get three of its nominees elected.
“They ignored a weakened Yeddyurappa by giving the Rajya Sabha seat to an ‘outsider,’ ” said a senior BJP leader. He said Yeddyurappa, perhaps, could not assert himself as he is surrounded by a series of controversies.
Sources said Modi has in the past brushed aside the central command’s attempt to impose nominees on him.
Once even Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan put his foot down against a party choice.
Jagdish Shettigar, former economic adviser to the prime minister in the A B Vajpayee government and BJP national executive member, maintains that his claim to candidature from Karnataka has been being ignored since 1992. “This only reflects that they doubt my service and commitment to the party,” Shettigar said.
Till Friday, the state leaders, including the chief minister, were unaware of the party decision to field Hema Malini.
BJP State unit President K S Eshwarappa, on record, defended the party’s decision. He said the BJP is a national party. Therefore, he welcomed the party decision.
He said the BJP had always recognised contributions of artistes and writers. “We have never adopted a narrow-minded approach while recognising the contributions of artistes,” he said.
When it was brought to his notice that in the past the BJP had chosen Rajeev Chandrashekhar (who, though he lives in Bangalore, is not a Kannadiga) and Venkaiah Naidu for the Rajya Sabha, Eshwarappa countered: “We have elected Ayanur Manjunath and Justice Rama Jois, who are from Karnataka.”
Rajeev Chandrashekhar was born in Ahmedabad and stayed all over India as a defence officer’s son.
He speaks Malayalam and Kannada, among other languages. He studied engineering in Manipal.
The state leaders are, however, in no position to question the high command’s decision. The state party election committee did not meet even once to recommend its choice of the candidate for the Rajya Sabha byelection.
The rift among the state leaders only made the State to lose a chance to field a person from the party cadre. The high command reportedly told a senior leader of the State to keep off candidate selection this time.
BSY hails Hema’s selection
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said the selection of Bollywood actor Hema Malini to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka, was the decision of the BJP high command, DHNS reports from Bangalore.
Speaking to mediapersons after his arrival at the Balwadagi helipad, he said he respected and welcomed the decision of the BJP high command and refused to speak further.