Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Oct 8: Some disqualified legislators from the state had a secret meeting with BJP national organizing secretary B L Santosh where they reportedly held consultations with him. This curious exercise by keeping Yediyurappa away has given rise to lot of speculations within the party circles.

Disqualified MLAs from the city Muniratna, Byrathi Basavaraju and S T Somashekhar, met Santosh by arriving at the BJP office at Malleshwaram here early in the morning on Saturday. Party's state president, Nalin Kumar Kateel, was present, it is learnt. People close to Yediyurappa feel that Santosh would have personally invited these disqualified legislators to meet him while those loyal to Santosh believe that the legislators came on their own.

B S Yediyurappa

The fact that the meeting happened when Yediyurappa was away has given rise to suspicions in the minds of Yediyurappa's followers. They argue that there was no need to hold meeting with these legislators without the involvement of Yediyurappa, who is on tour of North Karnataka. Even though it can be argued that the disqualified legislators would have decided to meet Santosh, who is perceived to be close to Amit Shah, as his help would be need for the bypoll, non-participation from any leaders from Yediyurappa camp has surprised many. This development has given rise to doubt that something is fishy. They feel that this might be a strategy to curtail the hold and undermine the importance of Yediyurappa.

These legislators went directly to the fourth floor of BJP office building where Santosh stays, and returned to the ground floor by lift when there were not many in the office.