Father got call, told me not to file nomination: BS Yeddyurappa's son

Bengaluru: BJP leader and the party’s Karnataka chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa has insisted that his son being dropped as a candidate for the May 12 election in the state was his decision. However, talking about his disappointment for the first time, Yeddyurappa's son BY Vijayendra has revealed that his father "received a call and then instructed me" not to file nomination papers.

"(On April 23) My father received a call and said we should not file the nomination. He instructed me around 11 am, don't file your nomination. I finished the function and came back. I never asked anything," Vijayendra told NDTV. The day Vijayendra’s nomination was cancelled, BJP workers protested at a Mysuru hotel where Yeddyurappa and his son were camping, and also broke chairs. The drama continued overnight and followed till the next day, which was the deadline for filing of the nominations for Karnataka Assembly elections. Vijayendra hesitated when he was asked if he thinks that the decision was taken at the highest level of the party. "I am not sure. I never bothered to ask father. From there onwards we had to move on, I never asked him who called," he said. Vijayendra spent weeks campaigning in Varuna in Mysuru, where it had been widely assumed that he would be the BJP's candidate against Congress candidate and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son.

"More than shock, I was hurt, not because I was denied a ticket but only for the Congress workers who had joined the BJP. Many were supporting me," Vijayendra told NDTV. NDTV report said BJP leaders in Karnataka took the risk of angering BS Yeddyurappa by not fielding his son so its "dynasty" attacks on Congress president Rahul Gandhi would not be dulled when Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for the polls in the state. In his maiden rally in the poll-bound state Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week did stress on a naamdaar (dynastic leaders) versus kaamdaar (workers) theme. That "might be" the reason, said Vijayendra. "The PM did mention it in a public rally... the Gandhi family." He emphatically denied that he was dropped as a strategy to sideline his father; speculation has been swirling as the party faces accusations from the ruling Congress of overlooking corruption charges against Yeddyurappa. At 75, former chief minister of the state BS Yeddyurappa has also technically reached the BJP's cut-off age for active politics. "Yeddyurappa has full backing of the BJP, he will serve five years," said Vijayendra.