The winning magic of BY Vijayendra, the son of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, continues in Karnataka. As the results and trends of the by-elections on the Assembly seats of Sira and RR Nagara indicated a sweep for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, BY Vijayendra, Yediyurappa’s youngest son, rushed to the house of his father to claim victory in Sira, the seat. where the BJP failed to even secure its deposit in the past.
Vijayendra, who is one of the vice presidents of the state BJP, has now announced his arrival by securing the toughest seat for his party. The bypoll victory was, in many ways, Vijayendra’s personal triumph, as he was the boy from his father’s back room who devised the strategy for the entire election campaign, where the BJP had no hope a month ago.
The victory in the heart of Vokkaliga was the icing on the cake. The BJP had never won there and Vijayendra had camped there for 20 days to secure the first victory of his match.
After winning an Assembly seat from KR Pete in Mandya for the party last year, Vijayendra had emerged as a leading electoral strategist for the party in the state. The victory at Sira has taken it to another level.
It’s no secret that Vijayendra was considering the position of BJP state secretary general in charge of the Old Mysore region, where the BJP is still a third party. He wanted to build the party at the grassroots level in Gowda’s heart using his organizing skills. But some party members who opposed his father arrested him and appointed him vice president, which is a ceremonial position. He reluctantly accepted it, and told his close circles that he would prove his worth regardless of the position he was offered.
Yediyurappa has five children: three daughters and two sons. None of his daughters is in politics. His eldest son BY Raghavendra has already been a deputy twice from Shimoga, the family’s pocket neighborhood. Vijayendra grew up mainly in Bengaluru and graduated from Law, moving away from politics.
An introvert, who listens more and speaks rarely, is considered a brilliant guy in the close circles of Yediyurappa. Vijayendra made headlines during the Karnataka assembly elections in early 2018. Yediyurappa had nominated him for the Varuna assembly seat against the son of then-Prime Minister Siddaramaiah, Dr. Yatheendra, who was also fighting in his First choice.
Fights within the match forced Vijayendra to withdraw from the contest, which greatly upset him and Yediyurappa. With her father’s future in mind, Vijayendra decided to keep a low profile and reluctantly accepted the position of general secretary of the state BJP youth wing as a consolation prize.
When Yediyurappa became CM, overthrowing the Congressional government of JD (S) in July, Vijayendra took over his father’s backroom operations. There were also reports that he meddled with the administration and controlled access to Yediyurappa. Recently, a Kannada news channel aired a series of programs against him, claiming that he is up to his neck in corruption. Police raided the office of the television station in a controversial move. The channel is now off the air.
The upset CM himself had to issue a clarification, saying that Vijayendra was not running his office. But many still believe that he has more voice in government affairs.
Speaking to News18, Vijayendra denied the allegations. “We had never won Sira. I had promised my father that I would make sure to win a seat this time. I took responsibility for winning Sira. I volunteered. Fearing the BJP would lose, no one was willing to accept that. work. But I was confident. “
After carefully studying the combination of castes in Sira, Vijayendra launched an all-out attack on Congress and JD-S, ultimately dividing the defeat. The victory has raised his stature in the party, silencing his critics, party insiders say.
Some are already demanding that Vijayendra be appointed a minister in the Yediyurappa government. They argue that it will make the line of succession clear in the family. Some ask him to challenge Basavanakalyan’s out-of-court elections in Bidar.
But Vijayendra maintains that he is not interested in power and that he is only working in the party. “Compared to my father, I am a little boy in politics. I need more experience and opportunities,” he said.
However, the Yediyurappa camp is more or less convinced that Vijayendra could be a worthy successor to his father if he enters active politics during the current term of the BJP government.
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