New Delhi: After weeks of intense speculation, senior BJP leader and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s on Monday, submitted his resignation to governor Thawar Chand Gehlot as he completed two years of his government, his fourth stint as the first and only chief minister of the saffron party in a southern state to have won an election. Though the Lingayat leader said he would continue to serve the party to ensure its victory in future elections but his exit would certainly create a political vacuum not only in the state politics but also among the BJP’s regional leaders, which includes former chief ministers such as Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Devendra Fadnavis among others.
BJP leaders such as Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Vasundhara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda kept the party in power in crucial Hindi speaking states. Some of these leaders became chief ministers of respective states at a time when the central leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi were struggling to win the voters’ confidence at the national level.
Yediyuruppa: BJP’s biggest leader in South India
Among all the regional leaders of the BJP, BS Yediyurappa stands out, as he is the only BJP leader till date to form the BJP government in a southern state by winning assembly elections. He first became the chief minister of Karnataka for seven days in November 2007 but had to quit as its alliance partner HD Kumarswamy first refused to honor the 20-month office-sharing formula and later withdrew support from him over the allocation of ministries.
However, BS Yediyuruppa came back to power in May 2008 by winning 110 seats in 224-member house and formed the government with the help of six independent MLAs. He, however, had to relinquish the post in August 2011 following the charges of corruption. The responsibility was first given by the BJP to DV Sadanand Gowda and later to Jagadish Shettar as Yediyurppa left the BJP and formed his own party Karnataka Janata Paksha.
As a result of his absence from the party, the BJP lost badly with just 40 seats and the Congress won 122 seats to form the government with a clear majority as BSY’s successors DV Sadananda Gowda and Jagdish Shettar failed to win 2013 Karnataka assembly elections for the party.
Yediyurrappa returns to the party fold
Perhaps, it was necessity from either side that brought Yediyurappa once again in the BJP’s fold as he merged his party with the BJP before 2014 national elections. He also contested and won from Shimoga Lok Sabha seat. In 2018 state elections, Yediyurappa led the party to a near victory and was given the chance by the governor to form the government without a clear majority. He, however, had to step down in a humiliating manner after he failed to prove the majority as the Supreme Court reduced the time to prove majority to 24 hours from 15 days given by the governor. The combine might of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) was enough to oust him and install HD Kumarswamy as new chief minister of the state.
Yediyurappa again formed the government in July 2019 as 15 MLAs of ruling coalition resigned which led to the fall of the Kumarswamy government. However, two years after making the veteran BJP leader the chief minister, the party high command this month nudged him to step down to make way for another leader, which will be decided by the party.
Several leaders in the race
Several names are doing the rounds such as Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, his former colleague and former Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda. The name of BJP's powerful organisational secretary BL Santosh, who played crucial role in recent Union cabinet reshuffle are doing the rounds.
In addition, the name of CT Ravi, the BJP's national general secretary, has been speculated as he comes from the second most dominant voter group in the state - Vokkaligas. However, none matches the mass appeal of Yediyuruppa.
Regional leadership vacuum in BJP
It is not just Karnataka, the BJP’s regional presence is shrinking in recent years. The party lost several key states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh due to a variety of reasons but absence of a popular leader and strong anti-incumbency were the main reasons behind the party’s poor performance in these states.
For example, the BJP could not deal with the anti-incumbency against the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan and the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh in December 2018 and Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand a year later.
Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana & Jharkhand
While Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh have been mass leaders as they secured election victories for the party in the past but Raghubar Das, Jagdish Khattar and Devendra Fadnavis rode to the power on the popularity and brand image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who extensively campaigned during assembly elections in these states.
These three chief ministers – Khattar, Das and Fadnavis were handpicked by the Modi-Shah combine after the BJP’s election wins in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra following the party’s landslide victory in the 2014 general elections.
In fact, except Rajasthan, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal appeal that led to the BJP’s victory in Maharashtra (in alliance with Shiv Sena), Haryana and Jharkhand in 2014-15.
Haryana chief minister Jagdish Khattar was barely able to secure the second term in 2019 by stitching a post-poll alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) but the BJP suffered a setback in Jharkhand as its tally dropped from 37 MLAs in 2014 to just 25 in 2019 assembly elections.
Uttarakhand
The BJP’s regional leadership vacuum is not just limited to the four states – Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand - earlier ruled by the party but it is facing a serious leadership crisis in the hill state of Uttarakhand where it changed two chief ministers in less than four months.
While the BJP replaced Trivendra Singh Rawat in March this year, his successor Tirath Singh Rawat was replaced in less than four months this month.
Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is relatively inexperienced as he has just two terms as MLA from Khatima assembly seat, is required to lead the party to the election due early next year.
Gujarat
The party does not have a credible face in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat who could clinch a victory. Sitting chief minister Vijay Rupani was hand-picked by the party leadership after Prime Minister Modi campaigned extensively in 2017 assembly elections and won a slender victory for the party.
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
While the saffron party has Hindutva hardliner Yogi Adityanath as chief minister but it was Prime Minister Modi’s aggressive campaign in 2017 assembly elections that resulted in a landslide victory for the party. As a mass leader, Yogi Adityanath is yet to prove his appeal in a statewide election that is due early next year.
Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, the party does suffer from over-reliance on Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was not able to lead the party to a third consecutive victory in the 15th Vidhan Sabha in 2018 elections.
It was Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who fell out of the Congress and led the downfall of more than one-year old Kamal Nath government in the state.
Scindia joined Union cabinet early this month as civil aviation minister in the first-ever cabinet reshuffle of Prime Minister Modi’s second term.
Read: Karnataka: Congress MP says BJP's comeback bid in next elections a pipe dream
