It is unusual for a leader to be expelled from a party thrice. But Mavric Bharti Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Karnataka, Basnagauda Patil Yatal has completed this much. ‘Hindu Huli’ (Hindu Tiger), as Yatnal himself says, now finds himself in the forest, with the latest rebellion of Yatnal, spreading for one and a half years, finally brought to the end. Nevertheless, there is something about the history of the leader that suggests that it cannot be too long that Yatnal finds itself back in the BJP.
In the leading months for his expulsion, Yatnal was the face of rebels, who publicly challenged the state’s BJP president and veteran leader BS Yeddyurappa’s son Vijayendra. Yatanal and a faction in the party unit, Vijayendra, had been reducing Vijayendra anytime since his appointment in November 2023 as BJP President of the state. This was a prominent earlier this year when the party held organizational elections in the state.
Yatnal had long been pressurizing for an election for the post of state president, but it remained only a remote possibility, given that Vijayendra’s appointment was for a three -year term. Now, his expulsion suggests that the BJP high command has thrown his weight behind 47 -year -old Vijayendra and wants him to complete his term. It also indicates that Yeddyurappa will continue to call shots at the party in Karnataka, at least for now.
A two -decade -old rivalry
In fact, there was a proxy for the ongoing shade-boxing between Yeddyurappa and BJP’s National General Secretary (Organization), BL Santosh, which has now been for years. The Karnataka BJP is roughly divided into two camps, each having loyalty to Yeddyurappa and Santosh respectively.
The history of the struggle is before 2006, when Yeddyurappa became the Deputy Chief Minister and Santosh was named the State General Secretary, who was the name of the Nation General Secretary, which was on deputation from the President’s Swayamsavak Union (RSS). While there have been many ups and downs in his rivalry since then, Yeddyurappa’s last term as Chief Minister (2019-2021) was marked due to an increase in hostility, in which Santosh’s Protect and State BJP President Nalin Kumar Catel undercurved him. In cases in the state election of 2023, cases came in cases when Santosh got an upper hand in ticket distribution, although only for his candidates to come to a crotper. The party cannot name a leader of the opposition (LOP) or proposes the replacement of Katel for the next six months.
Since then, Yeddyurappa’s pre-eminent position in the state unit has been restored. Not only Vijayendra, for the first time MLA, named the state president, but R. Ashoka, who also credits loyalty to Yeddyurappa, was named as Lopa, which was much more for the Chagrin of the Santosh faction. After this, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, prominent leaders of Santosh camp were denied tickets. The list included Katel, Pratap Simha and six -time MP Anant Kumar Hegde.
Yatnal for further
When Simha and Katel’s choice was sidelined, it was wrongly attributed to the disputes arising from them. The fact was that Yeddyurappa was making sure that those who had openly taken to positions against him in the Santosh camp were removed. Along with experienced in the party’s steering wheel in Karnataka, many people in the rival camp thus chosen to maintain a low profile.
And that is when Yatnal emerged as the main stimulant. He later declared Vijayendra as the party chief later. Yatnal may not have come through the RSS rank, but has emerged as a strong Hindutva face over the years with its aggressive posture. After his first term as an MLA since 1994, Yatnal served twice as the MP of Bijapur (1999–2009), at a time that he also saw a brief tenure as Minister of State in the Vajpayee Cabinet (2002–2004). However, after Bijapur formed a reserved constituency in 2009, Yatnal could not secure the BJP ticket from elsewhere. His first removal was soon to follow.
Thus a small mantra began in the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) before Yatnal was welcomed back to the BJP in 2013, when Yeddyurappa did the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) after swimming. But his next expulsion came in 2015, when he contested for a place in the Legislative Council against the official candidate of BJP. In the run-up for the 2018 state election, Amit Shah intervened to bring back Yatnal to the party, but Yeddyurappa could not accommodate him to the cabinet, and both later fell.
Lingayat leadership
Yatnal, Bhi, belongs to the Lingayat community, which has supported the saffron party in Karnataka since Yeddyurappa’s emergence. From the Panchmasali sub-sect, he also increased the demands in 2023 to provide reservation to the group. Nevertheless, it is Yeddyurappa who is seen as a whole as a Lingayat champion, and the BJP understands it.
Now, with the height of Vijayendra as the state president, many people are afraid that Yeddyurappa is trying to engineer a succession in the state. After the naming of the district presidents, only the clamor intensified, alleging that it was a ‘KJP Reds’, referring to the number of Yeddyurappa followers, nominated in the major positions. Meanwhile, the choice of Yeddyurappa’s political secretary MP Renukacharya in the past is presenting Vijayendra as a leader-in-wetting.
When the BJP High Command influenced a change in the Chief Minister in Karnataka at the behest of Santosh in 2021, it was keeping in mind the party’s big goal not to fully depend on Yeddyurappa and could capture the mantle to promote a new batch of leaders. Basavraj Bomai, who replaced Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister, was very much nominated by Lingayat Strongman, but he failed to stamp his authority over the party, working on cross objectives with the Rabbal-Guars of the Santosh camp.
In the 2023 state election, the loss proved to be a major setback for the argument of Santosh. This was when the high command realized that it could remain in Karnataka only by keeping Yeddyurappa in good humor, whose Jalwani in the Lingayat community was important for the fate of the BJP. Karnataka is also important for the BJP as it is the only southern state that it has ever ruled.
Moderates vs. radical
Yeddyurappa vs Santosh rivalry is also a clash of ideologies between moderate and staunch Hindutva supporters. Santosh is from the coastal Karnataka, which was included in the party’s equipment when he was working when he was working when he was working. Decades, and most of them are tied together from a staunch point of view in terms of ideology. The sight of Santosh is to engrave a Hindutva base from Lingayat and other blocks supporting BJP in Karnataka. But beyond the coastal areas, it has proved difficult.
In contrast, Yeddyurappa has followed a widely involved approach to his politics. This was observed when the KJP accepted a concentrated ideology rather than Hindutva. The former Chief Minister had also rejected ‘Halal’ and ‘Hijab’ controversies as “non-leading issues” in the 2023 election.
Vijayendra’s future
The High Command said that it cannot easily deploy the Hindutva model in Karnataka as it does in Hindi Heartland. Therefore, the party may return Vijayendra to fulfill his term and possibly, give him another term to lead the party in the 2028 state election – Yeddyurappa pulled the wire from behind. But this does not mean that it will be easy with Vijayendra. The expulsion of Yatnal certainly comes as a relief for the state head, but the leaders had an outspoken alliance in the rival camp, such as Ramesh Jarkiholi, Arvind Limbavali and Kumar Bangarappa, not likely to fall into the bus line.
The BJP alliance with JD-S will form a bipolar competition between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress in Karnataka. Here, Vijayendra’s future will depend on how well he can balance his personal ambitions and the widespread interests of the BJP. At this time, efforts may be spent for the party, but the power tussle in Karnataka BJP is unlikely to end soon.
(Anand Kochukudi is a senior journalist and columnist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
