Pralhad Joshi, Nirani say they will abide by BJP's decision

Bengaluru: With the second anniversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka just two days away, speculation about replacement of incumbent Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa with a younger leader is getting stronger.

On Saturday, two senior BJP leaders whose names are doing the rounds as possible successors to 78-year-old Yediyurappa, claimed that they had no clue as to the change of leadership. Union minister Pralhad Joshi, one of the candidates being tipped to take the reins of the State government, said no one had spoken to him about this and he was not aware that BS Yediyurappa was asked by the BJP high command to resign.

The other leader who is being spoken about as potential candidate to be appointed as Chief Minister in place of Yediyurappa is minister Muruesh R Nirani. He said he would abide by any decision the BJP central leadership takes.

Asserting that he would not answer hypothetical questions with if and buts, Joshi said, "There is no high command in the BJP but national leadership. We have different leaders from time to time. There was Rajnath Singh, after which Nitin Gadkari came, who was succeeded by Amit Shah and now J P Nadda is there. In the present situation, we have supreme leaders in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. They will decide."

Joshi, however, is aware of the speculation going on in the media. "No one has spoken to me about it (succeeding Yediyurappa). It's only the media, which is discussing it. As no one has spoken to me, there is no need to react to it," Joshi added.

As Yediyurappa announced that he would abide by the top leadership's instruction on Sunday, speculation is rife that Muruesh R Nirani belonging to Veerashaiva-Lingayat community is also said to be among those at the forefront of the efforts to replace the chief minister. But, Nirani denied that he was lobbying for the top post. However, in the same breath he said he would abide by the decision of the BJP central leadership.

Addressing reporters, Nirani said he was an ordinary BJP functionary and it was his duty to follow the party's diktat. "BJP is a disciplined party and unlike other parties lobbying for posts will not work here. There has been no instruction for replacing Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. He is still our leader and we all are with him. The BJP top brass will take a decision on the CM post and we have to abide by it. Also, I never lobbied for any post in my life. I will shoulder the responsibility bestowed on me by the party. Our national leaders will choose the right person for the CM post after considering all the factors." Stating that he was not after any post, the minister said all the 120 BJP legislators are qualified to become Chief Minister".

Nirani, a three-time BJP MLA, is an industrialist who owns the MRN Group, which runs sugar mills. Nirani has been considered as having an outside chance of being the next CM, as he is a Lingayat which is a dominant community that makes up of nearly 17 per cent of Karnataka's six-crore population. The community can determine the outcome of polls in as many as 90-100 of the State's 224 Assembly constituencies.

The community has backed the BJP and its leader Yediyurappa since the turn of the century after the Congress had lost its influence on the community in the 1990s on account of its shabby treatment of leaders such as former chief minister Veerendra Patil.