Bangalore, Jan 27 (IANS) Wracked by dissidence and the squabble between old-timers and new entrants in its Karnataka unit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is bringing back Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) loyalist K.S. Eshwarappa to lead the ruling party in the state.
The 60-year-old Eshwarappa, now energy minister, will resign Thursday and file the nomination for the post of party president.

He will be elected unanimously and take over from D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Jan 30 in the presence of BJP president Nitin Gadkari, party leaders said.

Eshwarappa was the party’s Karnataka unit president 1993-96.

A three-time legislator from Shimoga, about 270 km from Bangalore, he joined the RSS in his school days and has risen in the BJP ranks after being active in its student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

A commerce graduate, he was elected to the assembly for the first time in 1989, reelected in 1999 but was defeated in 2004. He bounced back in the 2008 polls.

Eshwarappa is known to be a hard task master who frowns upon attempts to dilute the party’s principles and aims for the sake of capturing power.

He has had a running feud with the party’s first chief minister in Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa.

He had questioned the party giving ticket to Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Raghavendra to contest the 2000 Lok Sabha polls from Shimoga.

When Raghavendra won the seat, Eshwarappa had called for a probe into the low margin of victory. He had also charged that liquor flowed freely in the constituency to woo voters.

Unlike other senior BJP state leaders who kept repeating that there were “no differences in the party” when mining barons and Reddy brothers revolted against Yeddyurappa last year, Eshwarappa publicly acknowledged that differences existed.

Enjoying the RSS backing and support of the party veterans, he is expected to restore discipline in the party and also ensure that Yeddyurappa does not ignore the party while taking decisions.

A major complaint against Yeddyurappa ever since he assumed power in May 2008 has been that he takes unilateral decisions and gives preference to new comers ignoring loyal party workers.