‘State BJP president selection depends on Lok Sabha results’

Team Udayavani, May 20, 2019, 3:18 PM IST

Bengaluru: With just a few days left for the results of the Lok Sabha election results the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership hinted that, depending upon the performance of the state leaders in the parliamentary elections the future party’s state leadership will be selected.

Veteran leader BS Yeddyurappa has almost completed his term as the State president and soon the BJP’s central leadership will be elected a new state president and it will depend on the BJP’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls, both at the national and state level, a senior BJP leader in the state informed.

Addressing presspersons with this regard the BJP leader said “Yeddyurappa is on his way out and may remain only for a few months. It all depends on the mood of the party after the Lok Sabha results.The party high command will take a decision on the change of leadership only after the poll results and depending on how the party fares in the state and its different regions.’’

As per the sources, several names have emerged as possible replacements for Yeddyurappa, few of them are R Ashok, C T Ravi, Yeddyurappa’s confidante Shobha Karandlaje — who are Vokkaligas — Arvind Limbavalli, a Scheduled Caste leader, B L Santhosh, a former RSS functionary, Nalin Kateel, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Dakshina Kannada.

It is a known fact that the BJP under the leadership of Amit Shah introduced a policy of retiring leaders from party positions when they turn 75.

Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa is hoping for another shot at becoming chief minister in the wake of a big BJP victory in the Lok Sabha polls by mustering the support of at least a dozen MLAs from the ruling Congress-JDS coalition in the state. The BJP now has 104 seats while the Congress-JDS combine has 115 (78 and 37) in the 224-member Assembly where 113 is the simple majority and two vacant seats go to the polls on Sunday.