Lows of expansion

Cabinet rejig triggers revolt in Karnataka BJP, with rebels accusing Chief Minister Yediyurappa of corruption and sleaze

- PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold —W.B. Yeats

EVEN A CENTURY after Yeats penned his famous lines, it still holds true in politics. The ruling BJP in Karnataka is once again witnessing anarchy after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa recently inducted seven ministers to his cabinet. The expansion was expected to energise the government, which was bogged down by dissent, corruption charges, floods, drought and the Covid-19 pandemic. But the move has brought the simmering dissent in the party to a boil.

Legislators who failed to make it to the cabinet said Yediyurappa picked “blackmailers” and the “corrupt”. At least 20 MLAs have protested the chief minister’s “unusual” decision to induct five MLCs (members of the legislative council). Three of the new ministers were made MLCs after they lost the assembly elections.

The divisions within the party run deep. The mass migration of rebel MLAs from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), which led to the collapse of their coalition government in July 2019, has created deep fissures within the BJP. But what has rattled party cadres and leaders alike is the vitriolic attack against Yediyurappa by Vijayapura MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal and party hopper MLC A.H. Vishwanath. They said an objectionable CD of Yediyurappa was being used to blackmail him.