Karnataka BJP chief Kateel rules out Chief Minister change; confirms Yediyurappa to stay

Putting to rest rumours of a leadership change in the state, Karnataka BJP president Naveen Kumar Kateel reaffirmed that BS Yediyurappa will continue to lead the government in the state and rubbished reports that said otherwise. Rumours of Yediyurappa's exit have been doing rounds ever since BJP MLA Basangouda Yatnal, earlier in October, claimed that the party's senior leaders were unhappy with the current CM and that he was on his way out. The state BJP president Kateel firmly established that no one - both at central and state level - had raised any concerns regarding BSY's leadership and that he would continue as Chief Minister until the end of his tenure.

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'No such talk': Kateel

"There is no such talk until now about this topic at any level. Who has raised the issue of leadership change? Who has questioned it? Has our national president or national office bearers or core committee members or our legislators spoken in this regard?" Kateel said to reporters on Saturday. 

Other senior BJP leaders, including former Dy CM KS Eshwarappa and current Dy CM Laxman Savadi, have rubbished reports of leadership change and have backed Yediyiurappa to continue as CM. Dy CM Savadi also told reporters that Yediyurappa had received an assurance from none other than the BJP high command that he would complete the remainder of his tenure.

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Indicating a rebellion, Yatnal had, earlier in 2019 said that Yediyurappa will not remain the Chief Minister for long and the high command has decided that his successor will be from the north Karnataka region. The former Union Minister had even accused the Chief Minister of taking all the development work to his home district of Shivamogga, while holding back the funds allocated to MLAs of other constituencies. Yatnal had also stated in June 2019 that PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were his leaders and that Yediyurappa was "only the Chief Minister."

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Meanwhile, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa is faced with hurdles at multiple levels - both state and at Centre. With reports of leadership change doing rounds, the senior BJP neta still awaits his central leadership's nod to go ahead with his much-awaited cabinet expansion. Further, Yediyurappa's decision to recommend to the Centre to include Veerashaivas-Lingayats in the OBC quota has not gone down well - both within the party and outside - forcing the Lingayat strongman to defer the move. Yediyurappa's move was touted by the Opposition as a path to seek votes on popularity & appeasement basis for the upcoming bypolls. 

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