In an effort to counter reviews of one-upmanship across the unveiling of a statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, the founding father of Bengaluru, inflicting discontent amongst ministers from the Vokkaliga neighborhood within the BJP authorities in Karnataka, three senior Vokkaliga ministers held a gathering with district officers on Tuesday.
The 108 toes statue of Kempegowda — an icon of the Vokkaliga neighborhood — is slated to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Kempegowda Worldwide Airport in Bengaluru on November 11.
The plan to construct the 108-ft bronze statue of Kempegowda on the Bengaluru airport was introduced by Yediyurappa in 2019. The Rs 100 crore challenge is broadly seen as a BJP try and achieve leverage with the Vokkaliga neighborhood, which has proven little inclination to help the saffron celebration in Meeting polls.
Over the previous couple of weeks, because the countdown for the disclosing has begun, the BJP’s minister for greater training, IT/BT, Dr C N Ashwath Narayan — who’s the vice-chairperson of the Kempegowda Heritage Space Improvement Authority — has stolen a march for the disclosing, by inviting senior leaders of the Vokkaliga neighborhood like former PM H D Deve Gowda, former CM S M Krishna and the pinnacle pontiff of the primary Vokkaliga mutt Nirmalananda Swami.
The minister’s try and challenge himself because the foremost chief of the Vokkaliga neighborhood has not gone down effectively with different Vokkaliga BJP ministers just like the income minister R Ashok, the co-operatives minister S T Somashekhar, well being minister Okay Sudhakar and youth empowerment minister Okay C Narayana Gowda, in line with authorities sources.
The Vokkaliga ministers within the BJP, at a latest assembly on the statue challenge, requested CM Basavraj Bommai to allot accountability to different senior leaders as effectively.
The priority over one-upmanship among the many Vokkaliga ministers has resulted within the BJP management directing the involvement of senior Vokkaliga ministers within the preparations for the disclosing of the Kempegowda statue.
On Tuesday, Ashok, who’s the senior-most Vokkaliga chief within the BJP, chaired a gathering held by Ashwath Narayan for the district-level association for the Kempegowda statue unveiling — together with the gathering of soil from every of the districts for the “Statue of Prosperity”. The assembly was additionally attended by two different Vokkaliga ministers Narayana Gowda and Somashekhar.
“It (unveiling of the statue) is a authorities programme, our income minister (R Ashok) has acknowledged. Such a programme has not been held up to now within the state. The title “Statue of Prosperity” is being given to the statue of Kempegowda. It’s a massive message for the whole world, the nation, and the state,” Dr Ashwath Narayan mentioned on the assembly.
“We’re reiterating our energy within the state very strongly by way of this programme. Soil assortment is an important programme. The ultimate message we’re sending is to construct the state and fulfill the goals of Kempegowda. It is extremely inclusive,” he mentioned.
“It would conclude on November 11 with the disclosing of the statue of Kempegowda by the PM. It’s a authorities programme,” the minister reiterated.
The BJP in Karnataka at current lacks a frontrunner of the stature of Deve Gowda, Krishna and former CM H D Kumaraswamy from the Vokkaliga neighborhood — which makes up almost 15 per cent of the state’s inhabitants and is the dominant neighborhood in southern Karnataka.
Whereas ministers like Ashok and Dr Ashwath Narayan have been promoted from throughout the BJP to tackle the likes of Kumaraswamy of the JDS and D Okay Shivakumar of the Congress, the BJP leaders are but to claim themselves.
“The Vokkaliga leaders within the BJP apply adjustment politics. They by no means tackle the Vokkaliga leaders from different events. That is due to a quid professional quo association with the Vokkaliga rivals in different events. This is among the explanation why no clear Vokkaliga management has emerged within the BJP,” mentioned a senior authorities functionary.
Because the BJP got here to energy in 2019, the celebration management has tried to advertise Dr Ashwath Narayan as its Vokkaliga face. The upper training minister was one in all three deputy CMs appointed to help chief minister B S Yediyurappa between 2019-2021.
Dr Ashwath Narayan has, in actual fact, tried to deviate from the apply of different BJP Vokkaliga leaders of not taking over neighborhood leaders in different events, and has been concerned in verbal clashes with Kumaraswamy, and almost got here to blows with Congress MP D Okay Suresh, the youthful brother of Karnataka Congress chief D Okay Shivakumar, within the Ramanagara area.
Ashwath Narayan is by the way the BJP minister who’s accountable for the Ramanagara district in south Karnataka, which can be the house turf of Kumaraswamy and the D Okay brothers.
Whereas Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai is the official minister-in-charge of the Bengaluru metropolis area, the de-facto Bengaluru minister is Ashok, thought of to be his shut ally.
Dr Ashwath Narayan can be recognized to be eager to deal with the Bengaluru metropolis portfolio, however has not been in a position to displace Ashok, who earlier loved the arrogance of the previous CM Yediyurappa and is now intently related to Bommai.
Within the run-up to the disclosing of the Kempegowda statue, Dr Ashwath Narayan has garnered accolades from the BJP central management for making the challenge a actuality.
He’s credited with suggesting the title “Statue of Prosperity”, on the strains of the “Statue of Unity” for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue in Gujarat and the “Statue of Equality” for the Eleventh-century saint Ramanujacharya in Hyderabad — additionally unveiled by PM Modi.
The BJP has by no means been in a position to win a transparent majority of 113 seats within the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Meeting — on account of its lack of political traction in southern Karnataka and the Vokkaliga heartland particularly. The celebration sensed a chance to make inroads after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, through which it just about swept Karnataka — together with the southern districts of the state.
The waning of the fortunes of Devegowda’s JDS, with which the Vokkaliga neighborhood has firmly allied up to now, has additionally given the BJP new hope.
By the way, the beginning anniversary of Kempegowda was declared a celebration in 2017 by the Congress authorities led by then chief minister Siddaramaiah — on the occasion of the Vokkaliga Congress chief and present KPCC president D Okay Shivakumar.