Vijayendra facilitated cross voting in Council polls, says Yatnal

Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who has been expelled from the BJP, has said that State BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra facilitated cross voting by some BJP legislators in favour of Congress nominees in the Legislative Council polls.

“I have clear information that Mr. Vijayendra has done this to please Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar,” Mr. Yatnal said in Vijayapura on Monday.

“I think that Mr. Vijayendra fears that Mr. Shivakumar will use the State machinery to expose his misdeeds. That is why, Mr. Vijayendra did not issue a whip to BJP legislators before voting. The whip was issued after voting,” he told reporters.

“Mr. Vijayendra has helped Mr. Shivakumar and he has done this work most systematically. He has no right to talk about me or question my party loyalty. Mr. Vijayendra has said that I was involved in cross voting to favour the Congress. That is false and baseless. I wrote a letter to the BJP national president that I will vote for BJP candidates. I voted for the candidates from the BJP, the party that I was elected from. This has led to heartbreak among some leaders. It is true that there was cross voting in the Council polls. It may be because some MLAs supported the Congress hoping that Mr. Shivakumar may help them with funds for development of their constituencies. Tomorrow, when the Chief Minister releases funds for the constituencies of BJP MLAs, we will know who has cross voted. However, some BJP MLAs also cross voted on the instructions of Mr. Vijayendra,” Mr. Yatnal said.

“What did the BJP achieve by expelling me from the party? Nothing. I have built a strong team of loyal workers in Vijayapura who have ensured the victories of BJP candidates in the local body polls. Will the BJP high command expel all my followers? What did the BJP gain by making Mr. Vijayendra the State party chief? Nothing. BJP Karnataka has not taken the SIR seriously. They have neither done some footwork that can help the party nor have they effectively protested against the wrong methods being used by the Congress in the SIR process. Mr. Vijayendra’s followers are not committed to the BJP ideology. The party high command knows all this. Mr. Vijayendra and his followers will leave the party by November,” he said.

Mr. Yatnal said that some followers of Mr. Vijayendra are posting insulting messages about him on social media. “They do it on his instructions. That is not acceptable. I want to warn Mr. Vijayendra not to talk ill of me. If he talks about me or my family members, I will expose him. I have a lot of details about him and his father that could embarrass him. I will put all that on social media. If he does not want to suffer that embarrassment, he better leave me alone,” Mr. Yatnal said.