Not just Karnataka, BJP leadership appears to be considering major changes in other states as well

Vibha Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 18

Not just Karnataka, the BJP leadership appears to be working on effecting significant leadership changes in other states ruled by it. After the recent change of the Chief Minister in Uttarakhand and the mega shake-up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers, sources claim the central leadership is also considering a re-boot in states where it is in opposition.

Interestingly, while the recent Delhi visit by Karnataka CM BS Yeddiyurappa and his meetings with the central leadership grabbed all the attention, those with chief ministers from other states, including Madhya Pradesh and Tripura, went under the radar.

While party leaders call them “normal, routine meetings”, sources, however, claim these to be “indicative of major changes in important BJP-ruled states”. Apparently, the party and its ideological fountainhead, the RSS, are also planning an overhaul in states where the BJP is in the opposition, the first indication of which came from Rajasthan when the state BJP yesterday expelled former state minister Rohitashav Sharma for six years on charges of breach of discipline.

Sharma is considered close to former CM Vasundhara Raje.

According to the sources, the party is trying to project new leaders in states like Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. “The Sangh also believes that the BJP should promote young leaders so that the party has a fresh line of leadership in the next few years,” they say. Notably, the meetings come in the wake of the results of the assembly elections earlier this year and feedback of the second wave of Coronavirus from across the country.

So far as Karnataka is concerned speculation is rife on an alternative for Yediyurappa. “Given his stature and importance, the 78-year-old Lingayat leader will receive the exit he deserves,” is also the buzz doing rounds.

Yediyurappa has announced the convening of the BJP legislature party meeting on July 26. It remains to be seen whether he will make some announcement on the day to pave way for the change the BJP and the RSS are looking for in the Southern state.

Meanwhile, several names are doing the rounds as a replacement, including Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, General Secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, deputy chief ministers C N Ashwath Narayan and Laxman Savadi, former union minister Sadananda Gowda, and state ministers Murugesh Rudrappa Nirani, Basavaraj Bommai, and R Ashok.