BS Yeddyurappa back in action, to go into huddle with losing candidates

BENGALURU: A day after he resigned as chief minister, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa was back in action on Sunday, returning to the party headquarters and engaging in confabulations to prepare the party apparatus for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.


The state BJP chief has called for a meeting of all defeated BJP candidates in Bengaluru on Wednesday. "All sitting MLAs and defeated candidates of BJP will attend the meeting where we will discuss what went wrong in the constituencies we lost and try to fix problems, if any, keeping 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind," Yeddyurappa told mediapersons on Sunday.

The BJP lost around 10 seats with less than 2,000 votes in the recent polls.

By convening the meeting, Yeddyurappa is seeking to send out a message that he is not perturbed by the party's loss in the number game and infuse confidence in the party's cadres. During his emotional speech in the assembly before he resigned, the BJP leader had vowed that he won't sit at home but tour the state to prepare the party for 2019 elections.

Yeddyurappa's residence in Dollars Colony, which was abuzz with activities ever since the BJP emerged the single-largest party last week, wore a deserted look on Sunday with no visitors, barring a few leaders like Malikayya Guttedar and BJP MLA Ashwath Narayan calling on the outgoing CM. The police force deployed near Yeddyurappa's house too had been withdrawn soon after his resignation.

Later, Yeddyurappa went to the state BJP office and held talks with the city leaders about the Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Jayanagar polls to be held on May 28 and June 11, respectively. Election in RR Nagar was deferred after over 9,000 EPICs were found in a flat in Jalahalli just five days before polls. Election to Jayanagar constituency was countermanded following the death of BJP candidate B N Vijayakumar.

Yeddyurappa, in all likelihood, will play the victim card ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to consolidate Lingayat support, along with STs under the leadership of B

Sreeramulu

as he did in 2008 when Kumaraswamy refused to hand over power as per the pact between the JD(S) and BJP.