BSY’s tears wiped out BJP, says prominent seer

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The tears shed by B.S.Yediyurappa while stepping down as the chief minister in 2021, swept the BJP under the carpet in the Assembly elections, said Sri Dingaleshwara Swami of Fakireshwara Mutt, Shirahatti.

The seer said the BJP high command unceremoniously removed Yediyurappa from the CM’s post citing the age factor. A few hours before demitting office, the veteran BJP leader wept at a party function that angered every Lingayat/Veerashaiva voter.

Naturally, they concluded that the BJP follows a ‘use and dump’ policy and because of this reason, the community’s voters supported the Congress Party in many constituencies. He sought to know the reasons for removing Yediyurappa just because he had completed 75 years instead of allowing him to complete his four-year term. If the BJP had done this, the Veerashaiva/Lingayat community would have backed the party, he claimed.

The successor of Yediyurappa, Basavaraj Bommai may be a Lingayat but he failed to impress Lingayat voters, the seer claimed. Subsequently, the veteran leader was subjected to humiliation and not invited to important meetings, rallies, and election campaigns.

Permission was declined when he wanted to undertake a tour of all 224 Assembly constituencies last year just because the top brass felt he would promote himself. People were also witness to how BJP leaders handled former CM Jagadish Shettar and Lakshman Savadi, two important Lingyat leaders of the NorthKar nataka re gion, he added.