Ananth Kumar's hold declining?

BANGALORE: The political developments in the state may not be a sweet tonic for BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar.
Reason: Kumar, all these days, was seen as an alternative to CM B S Yeddyurappa in the party, but the emergence of Speaker Jagadish Shettar as CM candidate is hard to digest for many.
Though known as a Yeddyurappa-baiter, Kumar in the present crisis was not visible in the patch-up exercise as he was preoccupied with the party's affairs in Madhya Pradesh.He came to Bangalore on Thursday.
For years, Kumar was seen as the number one in the party. When the BJP got less than 50 seats in 1999, after announcing Yeddyurappa as the CM candidate during the 2004 elections, the party declared Kumar would lead. He succeeded in getting them 79 seats.
Later, he was assigned significants posts and asked to concentrate on issues at the national level. To encash the sympathy wave following JD(S) declining to hand over power to the BJP, the party preferred to make Yeddyurappa the CM candidate which resulted in formation of the government.
Even then, Kumar was seen as next only to Yeddyurappa. But the present developments have brought Shettar ahead of Kumar, for the simple reason that if there has to be a replacement it should be by another lingayat.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com