Bengaluru: With the incumbent president of the BJP state unit B S Yeddyurappa making it clear that he is ready to step down from the post, the race to the top post has started.

After news that former ministers R Ashok, C T Ravi and Aravind Limbavali are frontrunners, BJP MLA from Vijayapura Basana Gowda Patil Yatnal urged the party leadership to consider the party leaders of the North Karnataka region for the post.

“Party is very strong in the North Karnataka region. People of this region support the party unconditionally. So there is a need of honouring their support by picking up a leader from this region for the post,” he said.

“I am not in the race for the party president’s post. But my wish is that any leader from this region must be given this top honour,” he said.

Yatnal is a prominent Lingayat leader of the BJP.