Conspiracy being hatched to unseat Yediyurappa, says Yatnal

PTI, Oct 9, 2019, 4:41 PM IST

Bengaluru: BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, facing the ire of party’s central leadership over his utterances on delay in grant of central aid for flood relief, alleged on Wednesday some people in the party were hatching a conspiracy to unseat Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

“You want one more month to go like this (without adequate flood relief from the Centre) and later remove Yediyurappa.

This is your conspiracy,” Yatnal alleged without naming anynbody.

The Vijayapura MLA, who had served as a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, also charged the Central leadership with colluding with the “conspirators”.

“If you don’t want him (Yediyurappa as CM), call him, tell him that you are now 77-years-old which is against our party’s policy (to continue in electoral politics), take his resignation and select a new leader.

Instead of doing this, you (central leaders) block the relief funds and encourage those who are Yediyurappa’s opponents,” he said.

Days after the party high command served him a show-cause notice for his statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some other senior party functionaries over delay in grant of central aid, he appealed to the party leadership to summon Yediyurappa and his “opponents”.

“You call both Yediyurappa and his opponents. You have the capability to teach Yediyurappa a lesson if he is wrong and also those who want to unseat Yediyurappa,” he told reporters in Vijayapura.

Yatnal has upped the ante against the party leadership for not releasing Central aid to the flood-ravaged districts of Karnataka.

“(West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Bannerjee gets the appointment (to meet PM) but not Yediyurappa. Whatmessage are you sending? I will ask these questions.

Why shouldn’t I ask them? I am also a party worker and I am the one who built the party,” Yatnal said pointing to the allegedunsuccessful attempts of Yediyurappa to meet Narendra Modi.

Targeting the BJP MPs from Karnataka again, Yatnal said mere speeches addressing the flood-affected would not suffice as people in distress would not listen.

Yatnal “blamed” two union Cabinet ministers — without naming D V Sadananda Gowda and Pralhad Joshi — for “wrongly interpreting” his statements before the party high command that he was instigating people against them.

“I want to convey to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party working president J P Nadda that I am not against party.

All I am trying is that there should not be any damage to the party,” he said.

The party high command had served a notice on the Vijayapura MLA on October 4 for his statements against Modi and other senior party functionaries.

“Your intent, utterances and allegations against the party and its leaders constitute a serious breach of the party discipline as defined in the constitution and rules of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the party Central Disciplinary Committee member-secretary Om Pathak said in his notice.

Yatnal has been asked to furnish his explanation within 10 days from the receipt of the notice asking him why the party should not take disciplinary action against him.

Yatnal has been vocal against the BJP leadership, including Union Ministers and MPs from Karnataka, for the past few days over not getting Central grants to carry outrelief works in north Karnataka.

On October one, he had said that the Prime Minister tweeting concern for Bihar flood victims and not with those affected in Karnataka has made people feel he did not care about the state as there were no immediate polls there.

As many as 103 taluks in 22 districts were affected dueto the floods in August that left over 80 people dead, 1.5 lakh houses damaged and over five lakh hectares of farm lands completely inundated.