The election debacle in Karnataka seems to be causing more problems than expected in the state unit of the BJP with old-timers steering away from the current crop of leaders and predicting a "BJP-mukt Karnataka".

In the latest episode, loyalists of former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa have begun questioning the rationale behind sidelining the veteran who was among those who did the hard yards to build the party in the state.

A longtime loyalist of Yediyurappa, M.P. Renukacharya, is among the disgruntled leaders questioning the powerful national general secretary (organisation), B.L. Santosh, who holds sway in the state and allegedly played a decisive role in ejecting the Lingayat strongman from the chief minister’s post in 2021.

Amid heightened tension in the BJP over some seniors confabulating with Congress leaders for a possible switch before the Lok Sabha polls, Renukacharya, V. Somanna and MLAs S.T. Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar skipped a meeting called by Santosh on Thursday evening.

While staying away from the meeting called by Santosh, arguably the most powerful BJP leader from Karnataka with his open line to central leaders, is being seen as a defiance of his diktat, Renukarcharya blamed him for the current crisis in the state unit.

He accused Santosh of deliberately organising the meeting on Thursday when Yediyurappa was away, travelling by the inaugural flight from Bangalore to Shimoga airport, his pet project. “He deliberately organised the meeting when Yediyurappa was away in Shimoga,” Renukacharya told reporters.

“He sidelined Yediyurappa to tighten his grip on the party and finished off the Lingayat leaders,” Renukacharya said, alluding to how the BJP originally came to power with the help of the Lingayat community that Yediyurappa belongs to.

Renukacharya recalled how Santosh came in the way of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former minister Laxman Savadi getting BJP tickets to contest in the May Assembly elections, which led them to the Congress. While Savadi won on a Congress ticket, Shettar lost from Hubli-Dharwad and was made a member of the Legislative Council (Upper House).

“They sent me a (showcause) notice for speaking the truth,” Renukacharya said, referring to the action taken against him in June when he had urged state president Nalin Kumar Kateel to take moral responsibility for the poll debacle and resign, and slammed Santosh by stating that leaders with no experience even at the panchayat level were controlling the party.

The Congress was voted to power with 135 seats, while the BJP was left a distant second with just 66.

With several BJP leaders said to be considering a move to the Congress, Renukacharya warned that Karnataka could soon be a “BJP-mukt” state. “We wanted to make Karnataka Congress-mukt, but going by the happenings the state could soon be BJP-mukt,” he cautioned his party leaders.