Bengaluru: Heads of corporations, boards asked to step down

Bengaluru: The BJP government in the State seems to be in for a big churning ahead of the 2023 elections. The party's core committee has asked heads of all the state-run boards corporations appointed by the BS Yeddyurappa government to step down and make way for new faces.

This decision by the committee comes in the wake of the widespread dissatisfaction and frustration within the party after the BJP high command ruled out any reshuffle or reconstitution of the State cabinet. The cries for cabinet ranks were first raised by two MLAs -- Basanagouda Patil Yathnal and MP Renukacharya. The demand for cabinet berth mainly came from the 17 MLAs who defected to the BJP from the Congress and JDS in 2021 paving way for Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister.

However, that revolt was quelled ably by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who also felt that a cabinet reshuffle or reconstitution would not be in the interest of the BJP particularly when the elections are just around the corner.

But the party was failing in protecting its internal democracy and getting rid of sycophancy and the tendency of the leaders to groom their own flock for the plum posts in the government, particularly on the boards and corporations.

These boards and corporations have terms beyond the term of the present government, If the BJP comes back to power in 2023, heads of the boards and corporations will continue to hold office, but otherwise, they would have to quit to make way for the leaders of the victorious party.

The leaders in the BJP who opposed Yeddurappa's supremacy in the party and many of his close aides did express their anguish over many of their party leaders being without any post in the government despite being elected four years back. They complained that many of them were sidelined due to stronger lobbies within the party and their henchmen occupying pivotal posts in the cabinet and the boards and corporations.

These views have been already conveyed to Yeddyurappa by the Chief Minister and party State president Nalin Kumar Kateel after Yeddyurappa returned from London recently. It appears that Yeddyurappa consented to the committee recommendations to make space for the new faces to head the corporations and boards. It could be recalled that even Prime Minister Modi had spoken briefly with Yeddyurappa during his last visit to Bengaluru. The party second line leaders have pointed fingers at a few heads of corporations and boards where close relatives of many influential senior ministers holding posts.