Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal is learnt to have faced off with Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa at a closed door meeting with Bombay-Karnataka BJP legislators in Bengaluru on Monday. Senior MLAs had to intervene and calm the two down, party sources said.
This comes just a day after BJP national general secretary Arun Singh castigated Mr. Yatnal for consistently speaking on leadership change in public and directed the State unit to submit a report on the statements Mr. Yatnal has recently made. Mr. Singh had said Mr. Yatnal could raise any issue only on the party forum.
‘Step-motherly treatment’
Mr. Yatnal, reportedly first took objection to alleged “disparity and step-motherly treatment” to some constituencies including his and several others in North Karnataka, but soon dragged in the name of Chief Minister’s son B.Y. Vijayendra. Mr. Yediyurappa strongly objected to this, sources in the meeting said. “M.P. Renukacharya, who stood up to counter Mr. Yatnal, was snubbed by him,” a party leader in the know said.
Mr. Yatnal reportedly took objection to the Chief Minister’s son running a “parallel administration” and asked Mr. Yediyurappa as to why a senior leader like him should meet Mr. Vijayendra who had no Constitutional role in the State’s administration. The Chief Minister is learnt to have shot back saying his doors were always open and MLAs could walk in any time and meet him at ‘Krishna’ and ‘Cauvery’, his home office and residence.
Not content with that, Mr. Yatnal reportedly launched a full-throttle attack and made allegations of corruption, misgovernance and accused the Chief Minister of “compromising the ideals” and “damaging the party.” An angry Chief Minister is learnt to have shot back that it was Mr. Yatnal who was damaging the party and the government with constant outbursts. Soon, senior MLA Umesh Katti and Ministers like B. Sriramulu intervened and calmed them down, sources in the meeting said. Mr. Katti reportedly said senior MLAs could not be expected to come to the capital for every small work and asked the Chief Minister to be accessible over telephone as well.