Rebel Yeddyurappa to return to BJP

The party is hopeful that the return of the former Karnataka chief minister will boost its performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Vicky Nanjappa reports

It’s official! B S Yeddyurappa will join the Bharatiya Janata Party again. The former Karnataka chief minister announced his decision at a function in his hometown in Shikaripura in Karnataka's Shimoga district on Monday. 

He also pointed out that he would merge the Karnataka Janata Party, which he formed after his split in 2011, with the BJP. The rebel leader had earlier said that he would ally with the BJP.  

BJP insiders say that the biggest stumbling block in Yeddyurappa’s return was L K Advani. However, the veteran leader was convinced by party chief Rajnath Singh to change his stand. Advani is learnt to have reluctantly agreed.

During the state executive meeting last week, Rajnath Singh had said that a final decision on Yeddyurappa would be made soon. At the meet, BJP national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar appealed to "all brothers who quit the party to come back".

After the pathetic performance in the last assembly elections, the party is hoping to make a turn around in the forthcoming general elections of 2014 after Yeddyurappa’s return.

Yeddyurappa who had quit the party and formed the KJP took away 10 per cent of the BJP’s vote share. With his return the party feels that all the KJP votes would come back to it. Moreover, the party hopes to get all the Ligayat votes, at least from the north Karnataka region. The BJP says that it expects at least 15 to 17 seats in the 2014 polls.

Image: Former Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa