Amid Covid-19, rumours suggest BJP looking to replace Yediyurappa

The speculation got some credence when Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and BJP vice-president B Y Vijayendra met Union Minister Amit Shah

As Karnataka grapples with the devastating Covid-19 second wave, speculation was rife on Friday that the BJP has set the ball rolling on replacing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The speculation got some credence when Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and BJP vice-president B Y Vijayendra, son of Yediyurappa, arrived in New Delhi on a special flight on Friday night and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party’s national general secretary Arun Singh, who is in charge of Karnataka.

The state’s advocate-general Prabhuling Navadagi accompanied Bommai. Before them, state tourism minister C P Yogeeshwar was in New Delhi on Thursday to meet Singh, and he left for Bengaluru on Friday evening.

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Bommai and others stayed in a private hotel instead of Karnataka Bhavan and opted for private vehicles instead of official government cars.

Bommai and Vijayendra met Shah separately, without Navadgi. According to sources, the party top brass has discussed the idea of replacing Yediyurappa, rumours of which have been making the rounds of political corridors for the last one year.

Yediyurappa is arguably the BJP’s tallest leader in Karnataka. But the Lingayat strongman is aging, and at 78 is way past the BJP’s unwritten 75-year-limit rule for leaders to hold constitutional posts.

There is palpable disgruntlement against Yediyurappa's style of functioning, though he has weathered all the storms that have come his way.

Going by speculation, Bommai and Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan are in line for the CM’s post.

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Narayan is a Vokkaliga whereas Bommai, like Yediyurappa, is a Lingayat. While Lingayats are traditionally seen as BJP supporters, the saffron party has been working to woo the Vokkaligas.

During a recent discussion with the RSS leadership, Yediyurappa is learnt to have given two options for his exit: making Narayan the CM with Vijayendra as the deputy chief minister, or making Bommai the CM and giving Vijayendra a prominent party position.

Officially, however, the state leaders said they met Shah over the recent Karnataka High Court order on oxygen supply.

“All rumours are bogus,” Bommai told DH. “I've come here to appraise Amit Shah and other central ministers of the state government’s measures to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.”