With about six months left for Lok Sabha elections, the BJP high command on Friday appointed B.Y. Vijayendra, son of former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, as president of the State unit.
The 1975 born MLA for Shikaripur replaces Nalin Kumar Kateel who had held the post from August 2019.
Promising to take all senior leaders along, Mr. Vijayendra said his immediate task was clearly cut out: to extensively tour the State, revamp the party and win the “maximum number of seats” in the Lok Sabha elections to ensure the return of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
Mr. Yediyurappa had been lobbying hard for his son to be anointed as State unit president of the party for many months now, arguing that it was vital to pick a Veerashaiva-Lingayat for the post given that they had been the party’s strong support base and were disenchanted after he resigned.
However, there was considerable opposition from within the party to the move. It was argued that the choice would dent their “dynastic politics” plank against the Opposition. The BJP high command had been indecisive on the issue, pushing the party into a stagnation mode in the State.
The BJP State unit had been facing jibes from the ruling Congress for not being able to name a new party president or Leader of Opposition, following the humiliating defeat in the Assembly polls in which it won only 66 seats. Soon after being named party president, Mr. Vijayendra announced that the Leader of Opposition would be picked next Friday, indicating the revamp of the party unit in the State ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
