In Shikaripura, discussions on Yeddyurappa's 'fading glory'

Agencies
May 1, 2018

Shivamogga, May 1: As the Karnataka poll battle hots up, people of the state are busy talking about their favourite party candidates even as many raised doubts over the apparent "sidelining" of BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa this election.

Standing in the sweltering summer heat, 45-year-old Shantappa is waiting for a bus to Shikaripura. The unrelenting weather, however, could not stop him from discussing the upcoming state assembly elections with fellow passengers.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, he says, "It looks like our leader (Yeddyurappa) has been sidelined. He is not in his original form in this elections...I have heard he is not sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in most rallies".

Fellow passenger Rudrappa, a farmer, quips that the central BJP leaders are unable to connect with the public due to the language barrier.

"The other day, one of my relatives in northern Karnataka attended a rally, but came back disappointed as he could not understand the speech in Hindi," he says.

Another passenger Keshava, a BJP supporter, interjects and says the same goes with the Congress.

He argues that Kannadigas cannot connect with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and other party central leaders.

The bus driver, who do not wish to be identified, says political rallies are simply "political gimmicks".

"People are asked to shout slogans of 'Modi Modi' and 'Rahul Rahul'. These are political gimmicks," he says.

The driver was quick to add, "Yeddyurappa, a political heavyweight that he is, knows how to win elections if given full freedom.Yeddyurappa is a mass leader. BJP chief Amit Shah has said that the party is important and not the person. That does not work in Karnataka though".

A lawyer observes that the BJP's chief ministerial candidate was not giving any befitting reply to the ruling government's charges against him.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is repeating his speech at every place, mentioning about Yeddyurappa's jail stint and the Saubhagya welfare schemes, but the BJP's CM candidate is not giving a befitting reply to him, he says.

"Probably his health is not permitting him to campaign the way he used to do earlier. Otherwise, there is no reason for him to be silent," he adds.

When asked about the "fading glory" of 75-year-old Yeddyurappa, Gurumurthy, caretaker of Shikaripura constituency, says, "He has not been sidelined at all. These are fake reports. He is in his 'full form', else he would not have undertaken the padayatra for 85 days, covering all 224 constituencies just before the election campaign.

"We got 20 days to campaign after the filing of nominations. Since he is the state party president, he had to be a part of the candidate selection process. Therefore, he could not campaign during the first one week," Gurumurthy, who is also the district BJP general secretary, says.

"Now that the election campaign has started, Yeddyurappa is touring four constituencies on a daily basis," he says.

"Also, the central party chief has told mass leaders to campaign separately in the state as less time is left to cover the major constituencies," he says.

The BJP leader also addressed the reports of Yeddyurappa not sharing stage with the prime minister or party chief Amit Shah.

"Yeddyurappa sharing stage with PM or Amit Shah is not important, winning the election is important for us," Gurumurthy says.

Yeddyurappa has not visited his constituency in last five years, still, the party workers are working hard to ensure that the Lingayat leader wins with 50,000 votes margin in the upcoming state polls, he adds.

Gurumurthy, an RSS worker from Sagar taluk, has been working as coordinator in Shikaripura for last 35 years.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect the 224- member assembly. The results for the same will be declared on May 15.

Comments

Angle of Life
 - 
Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Downfall of BJP is very near...if you make corruption for 100 year people may forgive you but if you make division in religion and divide the country people then they will never show any mercy on you..because TRUE INDIAN ARE LOVING PEOPLE THEY DONT SEE WHICH RELIGION YOU ARE. Do good to all community people autamatically all people will start loving you...so ask vote in the name of development, safety, employment, hearth care, futur...not in the name of god, hindutva, muslim, crist, cow, caste etc i want to see my india growing strong.. i dont want to put my head down becaus of greedy communual leader

Shahir
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Yeddy the, toothless (brainless also) Lion

Sandeep
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Whatever he was, his age and wrong decisions were the reason for the glory fade

Danish
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Yeddurappa = Jumla raja Jr.

Farooq
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

By stating they are for Hindus and protecting everything for Hinduism, they failed to meet their words in real. People started realising the bane of BJP rule.

Kumar
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

It's widely known truth, some BJP leaders have a prick of conscience.  They may support and justify BJP acts in public but in mind, they are not. Modi rule made Yeddy weaker

Divakar
 - 
Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Yeddy's strong era became past. He cant do much influence on Kannadigas. 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 30,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 30: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who reached the national capital on Thursday, said he will discuss the much-awaited Ministry expansion with the BJP high command.

"It's been long that I visited Delhi. I will meet the party national president J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah and take their suggestions on the cabinet expansion," Yediyurappa told reporters.

The chief minister said he will also call on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and discuss about development issues related to Karnataka.

Yediyurappa has been anxiously waiting for the high command's nod to expand his ministry amid intense lobbying by the aspirants.

Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in cabinet expansion, alleging that he was weak and that the administration had collapsed.

As the chief minister has already made it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on in the party for the remaining ministerial berths.

Currently, there are 18 Ministers, including the chief minister in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
June 18,2020

Mangaluru Jun 18: Dakshina Kannada on Thursday, June 18, reported 23 fresh covid-19 cases, taking the total number of the cases detected in the district to 401.  

Among the 23 corona-positive patients, there are 21 males and two females. 

21 are Saudi returnees, while the other two have contracted infection from P-6618.

No cases were reported in Udupi district on Thursday.

The total number of cases in Udupi is 1,039, with only 92 cases being currently active. As many as 946 patients including 38 on Thursday who recovered have been discharged from hospital.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 28,2020

Gadag, Mar 28: At a time when the adminsitration is insisting on social diatancing due to COVID-19 outbreak, scores of people gathered in large numbers at an Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) market in Gadag district to buy essential commodities.

Both men and women could be seen standing in large groups near the vendors to buy fruits and vegetables. Some of the customers were also heard bargaining with the sellers in the morning today.

A couple of days back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised that social distancing is the only way to counter the spread of COVID-19, saying the virus does not discriminate and it can infect anyone.

Interacting with the people of Varanasi through video conferencing, the Prime Minister had stated that some people, despite being empowered with knowledge, are not pay heed to warning which is unfortunate.

He said the 'Mahabharata' war was won in 18 days and the war against coronavirus will take 21 days and the aim is to win it.

According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 873 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.