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Bangalore: Income tax raids last week on several properties linked to Umesh, an aide of BS Yeddyurappa, have turned into the latest flashpoint between the former Karnataka CM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
This face-off is so evident that the opposition parties are making the BJP’s treatment of Yeddyurappa the point of their rally.
“I don’t want to associate the raid with politics,” he said. This is different from politics.
But BSY refuses to drag politics into it and people close to him say that the raid has neither any ramifications with the former chief minister nor behind closed doors, sources say, leading to a tug of war between the party and the leader. The thunder is only grown louder.
Who is Umesh?
Umesh, a native of Shivamogga, started out as a driver-cum-conductor of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) and worked as a government contractor and then private secretary during Yediyurappa’s tenure as chief minister in 2008.
Umesh Work Yeddyurappa’s eldest son and BJP MP along with BY Raghavendra and returned to the CMO when Yeddyurappa again took over as Chief Minister in 2019.
BJP sources said Umesh acted as the ‘point person’ for all works related to the irrigation department and was close to BSY’s younger son BY Vijayendra. After Yediyurappa’s departure, Umesh continued to serve as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister’s Office under Basavaraj Bommai. After the IT raid, Umesh’s deputation in CMO was cancelled.
“Umesh was the only link between BS Yediyurappa and the Chief Minister’s Office. With these IT raids they have cut off the only active communication channel. How come no one reads this as a message?” A source in the Yediyurappa camp told The Print.
Meanwhile, a senior BJP MLA close to the party’s central leadership said: “How can a private person be appointed as an assistant to the chief minister if he is not close to the family? He also ensured that he remained in the CMO under Bommai. “
“BS Yediyurappa is a tall leader. Just because IT raids the person he works with, it doesn’t reflect on Yediyurappa. Nor is it an attempt to malign his image,” MP Renukacharya, political secretary to the chief minister and a Yeddyurappa loyalist told ThePrint.
Read also: In 2 Months, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai Plays His Cards Right, Wins Over Sangh
BJP ‘wants to malign BSY’s image as undisputed poll winner’
Ever since he stepped down as chief minister, Yeddyurappa’s efforts to stay relevant have been stifled by the party, his aides claim.
Whether it was his plan to tour the state – which was later turned into a party tour – or to keep his son and BJP state vice president Vijayendra away from the responsibilities of the bypolls – only to take a U-turn after pushback. For – and now IT conducts raids close to him, sources close to Yediyurappa believe that the party is looking to sideline the leader in public and that is not going well with the veteran.
The source in Yediyurappa’s camp cited above said that the BJP is trying to elbow Yeddyurappa to show that he can win the election even without a veteran. “His batters want to stop him and ensure that he does not campaign for the upcoming bypolls, so that he can claim that the party will perform regardless of Yeddyurappa. The ruling party always gets an edge in the bypolls and they want to use this opportunity to tarnish Yeddyurappa’s image as the undisputed election winner.
Political analysts don’t completely disagree. “No one can comment on the IT raid, but other things make it clear that ever since Yediyurappa stepped down, there has been a clear attempt by the BJP leadership to ignore the issues on which they have differences with him. Were. This was visible when Yediyurappa had no say in Bommai’s council of ministers, when his statewide tour was turned into a party affair and now that his son Vijayendra was not included as in charge of Hanagal, Dr Sandeep Shastri, political analyst and national coordinator of Lokniti Network told ThePrint.
He also pointed out how the party “course-corrected” by adding Vijayendra as the in-charge of the Hangal assembly seat.
“For now, all we can do is wait and see. From February next year, elections are to be held from the by-elections to the Legislative Council elections to the BBMP elections and the urban local body elections. He will wait and see how the party treats him till then and will take a call,” said another source close to Yediyurappa.
The source said the wait-and-see decision stemmed from assurances that the BJP’s central leadership has reportedly told Vijayendra that he would be made an MLC and given a cabinet berth in the Bommai cabinet by the end of the year.
Read also: To become CM in Modi-Shah era, BJP leaders need to tick five boxes
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