As Karnataka hurtles towards a trust vote on July 18, the BJP’s chief ministerial aspirant BS Yeddyurappa was reined in by the elevation of his bête noire and RSS strongman BL Santosh as the top intermediary between the Sangh and the BJP at the Centre.

While Santosh’s appointment as General Secretary (Organisation) in the BJP on Sunday is significant in terms of the party’s expansion plans in the southern region, his role in Karnataka is largely believed to be related to reducing Yeddyurappa and the Lingayat centrality to the BJP’s political identity.

Santosh, who speaks Tamil and Tulu besides Kannada, Hindi and English, has been instrumental in organising the BJP’s Sabarimala campaign in Kerala and has worked closely in forming the party’s alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

But for Karnataka, the first southern State to have had a BJP government and which has yielded significant electoral dividends for the party in successive Lok Sabha elections, Santosh’s rise to the top signifies the tightening of RSS’ hold over the party and the beginning of the end of Yeddyurappa.

Yeddyurappa’s role was reduced to irrelevance in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections with Santosh having the final say in candidates selection.

‘Most effective architect’

For instance, in the Bangalore (South) constituency Yeddyurappa, along with his supporters, believed that the late Ananth Kumar’s widow Tejaswini was the natural choice to contest the polls. However, Santosh picked the radical Tejaswi Surya for this prestigious seat. He is believed to be the most effective architect of the BJP’s extraordinary performance in the general election in which the party won 25 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats in the State.

Santosh was felicitated at the party headquarters in Bengaluru on Monday. Yeddyurappa thanked the central leadership for elevating a ‘native man’ to the top echelons of the party.

“Personally, I am overwhelmed by the national party decision. Santosh is a native man and his appointment will be of great help for Karnataka leaders and workers as he will be a link between the State and the national party,” said Yeddyurappa in a statement.

Bitter rivals?

Beyond the stated position, the reality is that Yeddyurappa has had an extremely bitter relationship with Santosh, whom he blames for making him resign as Chief Minister in 2011, following an adverse report by the Lokayukta Santosh Hegde.

Santosh, an RSS pracharak with a clean image, believes that Yeddyurappa’s association with the mining scams hurt the BJP politically. Yeddyurappa also publicly blamed Santosh for encouraging his rivals, especially KS Eshwarappa, who publicly denounced the former CM as‘dictatorial’.

Clearly, the BJP is signalling a generational shift beyond the ongoing jostling for government-formation. Yeddyurappa has already crossed the margdarshak mandal retirement age of 75 years.

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