Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka unit was being run in a dictatorial manner under state president BY Vijayendra, Chikkaballapur MP K Sudhakar said the party’s future in the state looked bleak.
The former state health minister is the latest BJP leader to voice his displeasure with Vijayendra’s leadership, highlighting the dissent within the Karnataka BJP.
Expressing frustration over the recent announcement of district presidents, the BJP MP stated he was not even consulted in selecting the party president for his own constituency.
“I think many senior leaders are very upset with the kind of unilateral and dictatorial attitude that Mr. Vijayendra is showing. Many leaders have done it many times. I just had to add to the list,” he said.
He also alleged that senior party leaders were being sidelined and that the party was being controlled by a single family.
Sudhakar, who joined the BJP during Operation Kamala in 2019, also indicated plans to escalate the issue to the party’s high command.
“I need to meet our national leadership and explain to them the way this is all going about,” he said, adding: “Unless the national leadership takes stock of the political situation in Karnataka, I think the future of BJP in Karnataka looks very dim.”
“I am a person who stands by any decision that our high command takes, but why I had to come before the media is because this is a last resort and I was pushed to the wall already to save the image of the party.”
According to him, the BJP “is in a very sorry state” and it needed to “find a way to rebuild the party in Karnataka.”
“I don’t know if the national leadership thinks all is well in Karnataka. Please sir, it is not,” he said. “I know that you are all busy in Delhi, but please, Karnataka is the gateway of the BJP party. Please give us some time, and understand the ground realities.”
He said other leaders are deeply concerned that any delay would cause irreparable damage. He also revealed that senior leaders, including MPs, planned to meet later to discuss the next steps.
Meanwhile, state president Vijayendra refuted claims of unilateral decision making and clarified the selection process.
“As president, I’ve not given my opinion on any district and there’s no opportunity for it. Captain Ganesh (Karthik) was made incharge of this. Thirteen observers were named and everyone got three districts each (to manage),” he said.
Stating that senior leaders were consulted, and for each district, three shortlisted names were sent to Delhi, he said: “Names were announced only after (national leadership in) Delhi decided. Vijayendra’s role in this is zero.”
He also said he did not blame Sudhakar “because he might not know how the selection process worked. Many don’t know.”
with input from Nagarjun Dwarakanath