Mandya: State BJP Vice President and Former Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa’s son B. Y. Vijayendra’s name gets attached to Varuna Constituency during every Assembly election. The veteran politician Yediyurappa along with Veerashaiva Lingayat Community has been dreaming of passing on mantle to Vijayendra without trouble. But this continues to face obstacles despite other communities being with him. So yet again Yediyurappa, who has suffered setbacks twice, has now made Vijayendra withdraw from Varuna and instructed him to contest from Shikaripura without taking any kind of risk.
When the Assembly Elections were announced in 2018, Vijayendra’s name was in the limelight in Old Mysuru region. As soon as it was known that Siddaramaiah’s son would contest in Varuna, the pressure for Vijayendra’s contest increased in the BJP. It is calculated that the Lingayats are leaning towards the BJP. Bookanakere in Mandya District is native of Yediyurappa, where he born. If Vijayendra contests in Old Mysuru Region with this link, the party will become stronger. Mandya was the District where BJP never won in the history of Karnataka. But Vijayendra and team worked hard in Krishnarajapete by-election and managed to win party candidate K. R. Narayana Gowda last time, thus opened account in Mandya District.
When Vijayendra prepared to file nomination papers from Varuna Constituency in 2018 the BJP High Command leaders called Yediyurappa as contest would not be beneficial for party and denied ticket. The High Command also instructed Yediyurappa to announce that Vijayendra would not contest from Varuna.
Then in 2021 when Legislative Council elections are faced, there is an opportunity for Vijayendra to get nomination by the party. In the Core Committee Meeting, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai himself named Vijayendra. Let’s recommend his name to Delhi, I will ask for the ticket, he said. But the leaders of Delhi did not agree to this. This has proved to be a setback for Senior Leader Yediyurappa that he did not manage to get ticket for his own son. It is also a setback for Vijayendra.
This is one of the reasons that Yediyurappa has already taken his electoral retirement and announced Vijayendra’s name. Now Vijayendra’s name is creeping into Varuna Constituency for the third time. After the confirmation of Siddaramaiah’s contest, the pressure for Vijayendra’s contest has increased. But Yediyurappa is worried that if he contests against Siddaramaiah, Vijayendra might miss the ticket from Shikaripura. Veerashaiva Lingayats also have enough votes in Varuna. In this part, Housing Minister V. Somanna also exerts some influence. If others defeats Vijayendra, the future of Vijayendra will surely turn dark.
With all these calculations, it looks like Yediyurappa told Vijayendra not to contest from Varuna and instead he has requested voters in Varuna to give the same love and trust to Vijayendra as him. It is clear that Yediyurappa has taken this decision to prevent his son from getting into trouble for the third time.
