Rs 40k cr scam jibe: Pressure mounts on BYV to act tough against Yatnal

Bengaluru: The newly formed state BJP team, in its maiden meeting on Wednesday, pressured party president B Y Vijayendra to act sternly against the senior party legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal for his repeated verbal attacks against him and his father B S Yediyurappa.

The call for urgent action followed a day after Yatnal alleged that Rs 40,000 crore was misappropriated at the time of Covid, during the previous BJP regime under the leadership of then chief minister B S Yediyurappa and vowed to release documents pertaining to the medical procurement scam.

Yatnal had been making such allegations on Yediyurappa, and his son Vijayendra, ever since the former became chief minister for the fourth time, in 2019. However, both father and son have maintained a stoic silence over his allegations.

In the office-bearers meeting here, party state general secretary P Rajeev, without taking any names, said that all recent developments in the party were discussed at length during the Karnataka BJP office-bearers’ meet held today (Wednesday) under the leadership of state President B Y Vijayendra.

“Indoor discussions cannot be disclosed. What I can say is that the party will not tolerate any activities that cause damage to its dignity. Serious discussions have happened within four walls, and our central leadership will take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time,” the former Kuduchi MLA told reporters here.

Echoing a similar view, Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary said that the party central leaders and state leaders were keeping a close watch on those violating the party’s disciplinary framework. “Our party will not tolerate any statement by anyone that will prove detrimental to the party’s prospects,” he said.

‘Party with differences’

Former chief minister D V Sadanada Gowda, speaking to reporters separately, minced no words to criticise Yatnal and appealed to the central leadership to intervene at the earliest before his (Yatnal) ‘statements’ cause more damage to the party’s prospects. “When I was the state unit president, I had suspended leaders like Yatnal, M P Renukacharya and former minister B Janardhana Reddy. But it was Yediyurappa who forced me to reverse my decision on Yatnal and Renukacharya, for which the party is paying a heavy price today,” he rued.

Gowda also urged the party central leaders to sort differences within the party state unit. “Otherwise, our party will no longer be a ‘party with difference’, but a party with differences,” he warned.

Cut-off box - Central leaders’ intervention sought A senior leader on the condition of anonymity told DH that the office-bearers have demanded Vijayendra to formally write a letter to party central leaders seeking their intervention to rein in (Yatnal) until Lok Sabha elections are over.” The office-bearers also took exceptions to Yatnal’s disrespectful remarks calling them ‘chelas’ in public.