Rift in Karnataka BJP: Leaders supporting State chief Vijayendra to seek expulsion of rebel leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, his followers

BJP leaders in Karnataka demand expulsion of rebel leader Yatnal, plan convention to boost party morale.

Amid the growing internal bickering in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) State unit, a group of party leaders owing allegiance to party’s State president B.Y. Vijayendra have announced that they will shortly be meeting national leaders to demand the expulsion of the rebel leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and his followers.

The BJP leaders including former Ministers M.P. Renukacharya, B.C. Patil, Katta Subramanya Naidu and Hartal Halappa, who were in Mysuru on Saturday (November 30, 2024), offered prayers at Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills and addressed a press conference.

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Mr. Renukacharya told reporters that the party workers and leaders across the State want the rebels to be thrown out of the party. “As a voice of the party workers and leaders, we will meet the national leadership and demand their expulsion”, he said.

Mr. Renukacharya, who hit out at Mr. Yatnal for repeatedly targeting Mr. Vijayendra and senior BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa, laid the blame for the party’s rout in the recent by-polls to three Legislative Assembly constituencies squarely at Mr. Yatnal’s doorstep. He claimed that the image of the BJP had suffered in the minds of the general public on account of Mr. Yatnal’s critical statements against Mr. Yediyurappa and Mr. Vijayendra since 2020.

The party will shortly organise a convention in Davangere under Mr. Vijayendra’s leadership to instill confidence among the party workers, who were hurt after the party’s loss in the recent bypolls. “A host of Central leaders and Union Ministers, besides State leaders, will attend the convention and boost the morale of the party workers for the upcoming elections to the local bodies,” he said.

Mr. Renukacharya also claimed that he was receiving threat calls for speaking out against the rebels.