Basangouda Patil Yatnal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Basangouda Patil Yatnal

• Basangouda Patil Yatnal is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yatnal served as the Minister of State for Textiles and the Minister of State for Railways between 2002 and 2004 in the third Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry.

  

• Yatnal was 31 years old when the BJP fielded him from the Bijapur assembly constituency in Karnataka in 1994; he won his debut election by a margin of 16128 votes.

• He was a strong supporter of former BJP leader and Union Minister H. N. Ananth Kumar.

• In March 2009, Basangouda launched the “BJP ulisi, karyakartharannu rakshisi” (Save BJP, Save Party) campaign in Karnataka against the Karnataka BJP leadership and alleged that they were disrespecting the senior leaders who were not favoured by them.

• In 2009, the BJP decided not to field him from the Bijapur Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, which Patil Yatnal won in the 1999 Lok Sabha election and the 2004 Lok Sabha election; this decision was not well-received among the supporters of the politician and ultimately resulted in his expulsion from the party in May 2009.

  

• Some reports suggested that the JDS leadership and members believed that Yatnal’s entry would help build the JDS in North Karnataka; however, his defeat in the 2013 legislative assembly elections from the Bijapur assembly constituency in Karnataka was a major setback for the party.

• He quit his membership as a JDS worker in 2013 following the decision to not anoint him as the JD(S) state president; Basangouda was the state general secretary of JDS when he left the party.

  

• In 2015, Yatnal was expelled from the BJP for a second time; he was expelled for six years for anti-party activities and indiscipline. Some reports suggested that the politician was expelled from the party after he refused to withdraw his nomination as a rebel candidate from the Vijayapura constituency for the legislative council elections.

• While he was speaking about his political journey in an interview, he revealed that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was his political guru.

• The politician was named President of the Sanganabasava Shishuniketan (CBSE) School, Vijayapura, Karnataka, in 2016.

• On 22 April 2017, Basangouda posted a tweet stating that he was among the people who demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

• In 2017, through a post he shared on social media, Yatnal demanded that the financial aid granted to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (JNU) must be stopped and that the university should be shut down. He further accused the university produces militants and gaddar (traitor). ^[14]Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal – Official Twitter Page

  

• The contentious comments he made about the 2018 Kerala floods were widely criticised by people on social media. In an interview, the politician pointed out that the flood was the result of the cow slaughter and the sentiments of the hurt Hindus.

• In 2018, the BJP leadership inducted him back into the party along with Congress MLA A. S. Patil ahead of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. This decision was not well received by many of the senior leaders and party members; they organized strong protests outside the party office in Vijayapura, where the induction of the two politicians took place.

  

• Rajugouda Patil, a loyalist of the then-BJP state president B. S. Yediyurappa, in an interview, alleged that Yediyurappa did not consult with any of the local leaders before bringing back Yatnal or inducting A. S. Patil into the party. On 5 April 2018, Rajugouda Patil, along with 400 of his followers, tendered their resignation and announced that they were joining the Janata Dal (Secular).

• In May 2020, he donated three months’ salary as the MLA of the Bijapur legislative constituency to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

• Some reports suggested following the public appeal made by B. S. Yediyurappa’s government for celebrating Diwali in an eco-friendly manner, Yatnal shared a post on social media on 9 November 2020 and suggested that other religions should also commemorate their festivals differently. He pointed out that there should be a “soundless Friday”, “bloodless Eid al-Adha”, and a “crackerless 31st December night.” ^[15]The Week

  

• The politician made some bizarre methods to control the population growth in India while speaking at a meeting as part of the quarterly Karnataka Development Program (KDP) on 25 July 2022. Some reports suggested that while responding to the then Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer, Rahul Shinde, who pointed out that there was a lack of gynaecologists to work at the taluk hospitals in the state, Yatnal said that he did observe the long ques of pregnant women at the hospitals and later suggested the district surgeon to prioritize treating pregnant women who have less than three children over treating pregnant women who have more than three children.

• In August 2022, while speaking to reporters about the 2023 legislative assembly elections, Basangouda said that he possessed all qualities and was an eligible leader to be named the Chief Ministerial candidate of the BJP in Karnataka. He pointed out that if the BJP contested the election under his leadership, they would get 150 seats in the 2023 legislative assembly elections. Yatnal added that the high command of the party would make necessary changes ahead of the assembly elections to ensure the victory of the BJP.

  

• The politician was one of the first BJP leaders in Karnataka who openly hinted about the possible exit of B. S. Yediyurappa in 2021 without completing the tenure as the CM of the state.

• In an interview, former MLA of the Bijapur City assembly constituency and the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Appasaheb Pattanashetty accused Basangouda Patil Yatnal of blackmailing the BJP state leaders; he alleged that Yatnal obtained a BJP ticket to contest the 2023 legislative assembly election from the Bijapur City assembly constituency through unjustified means. This was not the first time Appasaheb Pattanashetty criticised Basangouda; Pattanashetty labelled Basangouda a hypocrite and an opportunistic politician in 2019.

• Congress leader Siddaramaiah landed in controversy when some reports suggested that he visited a temple after consuming non-vegetarian food. While speaking about this in an interview, the BJP leader challenged the former Karnataka Chief Minister to visit a mosque after eating pork.

• Yatnal, in an interview, said that he would cover the cost of one show of the film The Kashmir Files for a week. He added that the film showed the atrocities which were done to the Kashmiri pandits and Hindus and said that the people of his constituency needed to watch the film so that they would understand what happened in Kashmir and help them to avoid similar incidents in the future.

• On 18 April 2023, he filed his nomination as a BJP candidate from the Bijapur City assembly constituency for the 2023 legislative assembly election; Basangouda Patil Yatnal was a star campaigner for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly election campaigns.