Dissidence in the Kundapur unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) come to the fore right in the presence of the former Chief Minister and president of the State unit B.S. Yeddyurappa during a public meeting in Kundapur on Monday.
Halady Srinivas Shetty, a fourth-term MLA from Kundapur Assembly Constituency, has been planning to join the BJP after December. Mr. Shetty had a couple of days earlier made it clear that he would join the BJP after a couple of months as he could not do so being an Independent MLA and that he would attend the Parivartana Yatra in Kundapur.
Accordingly, Mr. Shetty was sitting in the audience with his supporters at the Parivartana Yatra. But, a group of BJP workers opposed to his joining the party, raised slogans against him and held placards with slogans such as “Halady needs BJP and BJP does not need Halady”; “We want an MLA who works and not sits at home”, and “Party is bigger than the individual”.
This angered the supporters of Mr. Shetty, who vastly outnumbered the opponents and started reverse sloganeering. When Mr. Shetty got up to leave, an agitated Mr. Yeddyurappa intervened and said that those opposing Mr. Shetty were free to leave the venue. Mr. Shetty would get BJP ticket for the next Assembly elections. The party will take disciplinary action against unruly workers, he said. Though this ensured quietness, there was unease throughout the meeting. After Mr. Yeddyurappa and other leaders left the venue after the meeting ended, there was jostling, pushing and heckling between the supporters and opponents of Mr. Shetty. The police finally came in and dispersed them.
Earlier, at a press conference in Udupi, Mr. Yeddyurappa had made it clear that Mr. Shetty is joining the BJP on the invitation of the party. “I had gone to Mr. Shetty’s house and urged him to join the party. Any opposition to Mr. Shetty will not be tolerated,” he said.