Karnataka crisis was mishandled by BJP: LK Advani

NEW DELHI: BJP leader LK Advani on Sunday once again advertised his differences with Nitin Gadkari by saying that the Karnataka crisis, when former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa faced charges of corruption, was mishandled by the party. “Handling of Karnataka crisis has left much to be desired. We had allowed an impression to gain ground that we were soft on corruption,” he said in his address to the party’s national council meet.

The statement appeared against a possible effort by the party to patch up with BS Yeddyurappa.

On Saturday, Leher Singh, MLC from Karnataka and a trusted aide of Yeddyurappa, said that the former CM could rethink his stand on BJP if Modi became the party’s prime ministerial candidate. Given this context, Advani’s statement was aimed at signaling his opposition to a rapprochement with Yeddyurappa.

Advani also tried to defuse the focus on Modi by showering praise on the Gujarat chief minister’s political peers such as Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh and Sushma Swaraj. This, party insiders say, was Advani’s way of telling party workers that the issue of PM candidate was yet to be settled.