Politicians are not known to retire, but 2021 will just go down in history. A politician with a huge support base decided to step down from the top post in Karnataka.
Of course, it was not as if the party satrap in the south and its most talked-about face BS Yediyurappa was not under pressure to step down; But he revealed that he did so on his own terms, of his own free will.
With barely 18 months left for the next assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party had been contemplating for almost a year to find a young face to take her to the next election.
For a party that has long asked “if not Yeddyurappa, then who?” Wrestled on the question of It was quite a surprise that his replacement was answered in the legislature party meeting which lasted hardly 15 minutes. For BSY himself, the writing on the wall was quite evident from the time he became chief minister after ‘Operation Kamala’, where the party lured legislators from opposition parties to get the required numbers for a majority – their age, their Given the exit was inevitable. Ever since he took office, the party has been heating things up for him under the collar – not giving him a free hand in choosing neither his cabinet, or candidates for the Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha.
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“I am led to believe that Yeddyurappa’s successor Basavaraj Bommai was not Yeddyurappa’s choice, but the central leadership’s choice accepted by the BSY,” says political analyst Professor Sandeep Shastri.
While many believe that BSY proposed his name, Shastri says the way things have turned out, it is just the opposite. “Ever since Bommai took over, he has not been attached to deputy chief ministers, he does not have as much pressure to form his own ministry (as his predecessor). Central leaders have gradually prepared the ground over time. But have we heard the last of it? I’m not sure,” he says.
Two factors emerged – one, that the BSY was ousted but the party put the brakes on his plans to go on a state-wide tour, which could have increased his personal popularity relative to the party’s popularity; Second, there is a definite attempt to wean Bommai away from his mentor, BSY and the party line.
As chief minister, it has not been easy for Bommai,” says Professor Chandan Gowda of the Institute for Social and Economic Change. “He is trying to be close to both the BSY camp and the RSS camp. He’s having a tough time. Undoubtedly, the hardline face of the party is now being prominently displayed in the manner in which issues like conversion have been handled. But it also shows that Bommai’s position is not safe as he has to keep all these people happy.”
In fact, observers feel that the past few months have also seen a rise in Hindutva-led politics in various districts after Bommai was brought in as CM.
“Maybe the party feels it is a better option than being held hostage by a leader. And a more explicit expression of Hindutva ideology may well be part of a strategy… When you have a new chief minister, obviously the new leader will be tested how he will react to situations,” says Shastri.
However, party insiders say that the BJP’s politics of change of power may have been smooth on its face, but it may appear differently before the elections. A North Karnataka MLA insisted, “Many MLAs had lost faith in the former CM, now there is a resurgence.”
Again, others point out that something is going against identifying the party as a whole with the BSY – and away from identifying the party with only one individual to identify it with an ideology.
BSY may have been convinced that his son (BY Vijayendra, who is the vice-president of the state) would be looked after after he quits on his own. But it doesn’t seem so – look at the recent raids on his close aide,” says Prof. Gowda.
Prof Shastri agrees that BSY may have tried its best to gain as much political currency as possible for those close to it, but the things that have come up do not indicate that this has actually happened .
BSY’s patience gradually eroded when the party forced him to accept three deputy CMs, did not give him full leeway in choosing his ministers, did not allow him to speak on several issues.
“If there was any commitment to make his son a minister, it was not fulfilled,” he said. In fact, his participation in the bypoll campaign was a thought,” says Shastri.
A senior national functionary declined to comment on whether any promise was made to the BSY to step down from the CM’s chair. His son is the state vice president. He will be given the same role as other vice-presidents. Other things will be decided based on his hard work as a worker (karyakarta),” he says.
When asked about Bommai’s statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah who led the party’s campaign in the 2023 elections, the national functionary said it is a decision for the BJP parliamentary board. “Sometimes we decide CM candidates before elections, like in UP. Sometimes we take decisions later, like in Assam. People can make general political statements, but this was not an official announcement; It is made only by the parliamentary board,” he says.
This change is fresh for young MLAs like Arvind Bellad, once considered in the race for CM himself. The party has long believed in its Lingayat vote base, and its stronghold in northern Karnataka has probably been strengthened with a CM from the region.
“BJP has seen new shoots, new faces, new life in 2021,” says Bellad, but declined to comment further on what would be the campaigning issue for the next election after the exit of the party’s most popular face. done. ,
The question remains in everyone’s mind that what degree of ‘retirement’ has BSY taken? How voluntary was the retirement? Were there promises made in return? Were they kept?
“We don’t know if the BSY has actually retired – his recent statement that just because the BJP has done well doesn’t mean it will ignore the JDS – shows that it wants to be in the reckoning, it said. To say that he continues that tie is important and that he is a key decision maker,” says Gowda.
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Shastri also points out that the BSY has made it clear that he will be a mentor forever – that he will remain in state politics and bring the party to power.
Karnataka has also seen, its politicians often admitting that they are not sanyasis.
So running out of a chair in 2021 may not mean a complete retirement in 2022 – and it may well be BSY that calls the shots in 2023.
Because some old commanders do not fade. Fantastic people fight to stay relevant.
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