BJP leaders meeting with DK triggers buzz

Amid speculations of ‘Operation Hasta’ going on in Karnataka to woo BJP leaders to join the Congress, former BJP Minister BC Patil and ex-MLA Narasimha Naik met Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar during the birthday party of noted Kannada film actor Sudeep Sanjeev, who is popularly known as ‘Kiccha’ Sudeep.

However, Patil and Naik on Sunday ruled out the possibility of them quitting the party and joining the Congress.

‘Operation Hasta’ is being projected as an attempt to make the leaders of opposition parties, mainly the BJP, join the Congress.

‘Operation Hasta’ means ‘Operation Palm’ referring to the palm, which is the Congress’s party symbol. It is said to be in retaliation to the BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ of allegedly toppling a government and installing a dispensation headed by it as had happened in 2019 when the JD(S)-Congress coalition government collapsed due to the disqualification of 17 MLAs of the ruling alliance.

Patil and Naik said their meeting with Shivakumar in a five-star hotel was a sheer coincidence and an unexpected one. “It was an unexpected meeting. I did not expect that Shivakumar would come there,” Patil told reporters.

Naik too clarified that he has no plans to quit BJP and join the Congress. “There is no question of undergoing any ‘operation’ because I am neither suffering from cancer nor tumour. Also, I don’t have any disease. There is no situation to go to any doctor,” he said.

He said Sudeep had thrown a party in a hotel on Saturday where the BJP leaders had gathered.

Naik, however, admitted that there is discontent in the BJP and he had raised it in the party meeting recently.

Explaining further, he said during the recent meeting he had told senior party leaders to appoint a Leader of Opposition and constitute a team with a new state BJP president. It will help the party gear up for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Naik said.

According to him, people are eager to vote for the BJP in the Parliamentary election, and that the delay in the appointment may drive people away from the party, which should not happen.

Naik admitted that the party has been seeing a downfall after removing BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa from the post of Chief Minister in July 2021.

“After removing B S Yediyurappa from the post of Chief Minister, to some extent our downfall started, which did not pick up again. There is no second thought about it. Now, Yediyurappa is at the forefront. Vijayendra (Yediyurappa’s son) is also there. Yediyurappa is doing his job of building the party,” he added.

The former BJP MLA said Yediyurappa speaks over the phone twice a week to all leaders who lost the election.

“He (Yediyurappa) talks to us just like a father, just like the head of the family speaks to the children. Yediyurappa is not sitting idle. He is trying to solve our problems. He is also talking to all of us. We will contest the election under his leadership,” Naik said.