The denial of an MLC seat, despite being “unanimously” recommended by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state core committee, is seen by many as a snub to BY Vijayendra and his father BS Yediyurappa. Another view is that the entire drama was deliberately scripted by Yediyurappa to ensure his son remains relevant in state politics until the 2023 assembly elections.
“We can’t tell with certainty which of these versions is true, because in politics, anything is possible,” said Gautham Machaiah, a political analyst.
Vijayendra is known to be ambitious about his political career and so is BSY for him. But in due course, he felt that Vijayendra didn’t get the importance he should have. It was high time, he pulled the ropes, say insiders.
THE HEIR APPARENT
BSY has pinned his hopes on Vijayendra to be his heir and take his legacy forward. BY Raghavendra, the other son, who is an MP from Shivamogga, is not as enterprising.
Hence, the whole MLC ticket aspiration and rejection was a greatly staged play by the veteran politician. BSY knew Vijayendra’s name would be rejected for MLC ticket, in fact, he wanted it to get rejected, say sources.
There is a huge wave of sympathy for Vijayendra post his rejection. BSY has hit the bull’s eye. The BJP high command has taken note of the situation and definitely doesn’t want to risk division in the Lingayat vote bank, for whom BSY is the biggest leader, say sources.
The whole incident has given BSY the bargaining power. He is in a position to get a ticket he wants for his son. Yediyurappa will also get prominence in the upcoming election for campaigning. Several central BJP leaders from Amit Shah to J P Nadda called BSY and consoled him. Apparently, they promised to ‘take care’ of Vijayendra in 2023 elections.
SON RISE
BSY is now glowing with victory and confidence that his son’s future is safe. All he wanted to show was that they are still relevant in state politics. Of course, the father-son duo wasn’t in a bad mood when the MLC candidates’ list was out with Vijayendra’s name missing. They seemed ready for it and issued a public statement in less than an hour.
Though Vijayendra is a vice-president in the state BJP, Yediyurappa is keen to see him as a minister and perhaps the Chief Minister in the future. Becoming an MLC and gaining entry into the Bommai cabinet would have been the first step towards realising this dream.
“In such an eventuality, there would have also been the threat of him being denied the ticket to contest the assembly elections in 2023 from Shikaripura, which is currently represented by his father. There is a possibility that Yediyurappa would have weighed both options and decided that forgoing ministership now would be better than losing Shikaripura to someone outside the family,” said Machaiah.
“So far, the central leadership had sent clear signals that it was in no mood to mollycoddle Yediyurappa who was reduced to a mere prop at party events. While Vijayendra was denied a ticket to contest from Varuna constituency in Mysuru in 2018, constant rumours that he would enter the assembly during subsequent by-elections also did not come true. Thus, talk about the MLC drama being played out by the former Chief Minister as a clever strategy, could also be a ploy by his supporters to salvage his image,” he added.
Yediyurappa has made it crystal clear that he is a predominant leader and is capable of getting greener pastures for his son.
With Inputs from DP Satish
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