Process Of Finding Yediyurappa's Successor Has Probably Begun

B.Y. Vijayendra, vice president, Karnataka BJP

- Prathima Nandakumar

The BJP is at a crossroads in Karnataka. There is a sim-mering leadership crisis and frequent rebellion against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who is still the only mass leader in the party. The spotlight is also on his younger son, B.Y. Vijayendra, nicknamed “Super CM” by the opposition parties and Yediyurappa baiters within the BJP. They allege that he is a parallel power centre in the state, misuses his closeness to Yediyurappa and even side-lines his father at times.

A law graduate, Vijayendra, 45, entered politics only in 2018; his elder brother B.Y. Raghavendra is a two-time MP from Shimoga.

In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Vijayendra shares his anguish of being “wrongly targeted” for being the chief minister’s son, and claims that the allegations against him were the continuation of a political witch-hunt of his family that started during Yediyurappa’s first term as chief minister. Excerpts:

Some leaders of your party have called you “Super CM”.

I am only a protective son. Our family has endured a lot of pain during my father’s first stint as chief minister (2008 to 2011), and I am only trying to shield him from being targeted again. As a son, I wish to see my father retire as a statesman, because he is one.

Whom are you protecting him from?

I have seen how things went horribly wrong in 2011. We were slapped with 38 criminal cases. Barring one—the Rachenahalli land denotification case, which was an oversight—all other cases were frivolous and were meant to weaken Yediyurappa politically. His opponents knew that by breaking him, they could break the BJP.