Despite clear instructions from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to resign as chief minister of Karnataka without delay, B S Yeddyurappa declined to do so on Friday.
The party had set a12-hour deadline yesterday for Yeddyurappa to go, in the wake of the detailed report from the state’s Lokayukta on the massive illegal mining racket. The report directly indicts the CM, among many others.
The central party observers sent from Delhi, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu (both former national heads of the party) and Arun Jaitley, opposition head in the Lok Sabha, met Yeddyurappa on Friday. However, their attempts to convince him to go yielded no result. He has said he would resign on the afternoon of Sunday, allegedly for astrological reasons, but many see this a ploy to buy more time to rework strategy. The high command is not at all sure that he will resign.
Various camps of the BJP held hectic consultations all day. Yeddyurappa himself claims the support of at least 70 MLAs (more than half of the legislature unit), 14 Mps and 30 MLCs, though this could not be verified. D B Chandre Gowda, MP from Bangalore North, said there was no need for the CM’s resignation, as the Lokayukta report was not a final indictment. Many other supporters attacked the Lokayukta for the report and over some of its contents being revealed much before it was given.
Yeddyurappa has insisted he must have the final say in choosing a successor. This has irked the party brass. The CM had supposedly proposed the name of his loyalist, energy minister Shobha Karandlaje, but this was not accepted by the high command. Karandlaje had irked many supporters for being the alleged power behind the CM. Yeddyurappa's indulgent view of her "highhandedness" was one reason cited by the powerful Reddy brothers (ministers and at the centre of the mining scam, both also indicted by the Lokayukta) to rebel publicly in August last year. Yediyurappa had bowed to party pressure and got her to quit as minister in 2009 but she returned to the government in October 2010.
His other suggestion was to enthrone Sadananda Gowda, MP, but the central party considers him too lightweight a figure for CM.
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Yeddyurappa contends he has been a loyal party worker for over 40 years and largely responsible for the BJP’s growth in Karnataka. There were reports that the High command was contemplating action but expelling him from the party was not an option, leaders said. Speaking to Business Standard, they explained why. Yeddyurppa is a Lingayat, a powerful and influential middle caste in Karnataka. Historically, Lingayats have got short shrift from the Congress, culminating in the public humiliation of Virendra Patil, a Lingayat removed from chief ministership by Rajiv Gandhi unceremoniously in 1990. Yeddyurappa went as far as making a contribution in the state budget to a Lingayat Mutt, something that had non-Lingayats up in arms but made him leader of the community. The Lingayats see, through Yeddyurappa, a return of their former glory.
The party's strategy is that if Yeddyurappa is cleared of corruption charges before the Karnataka assembly elections, due in 22 months, he will be made the martyr mascot of the party, to invoke Lingayat pride once again. From this point of view, who becomes CM is largely irrelevant. So, the party might just give in to Yeddyurappa for the interim and appoint one of his proteges..
On the other hand, the claims of the group opposed to him cannot be overlooked. Those opposed to him have gone along with the stance of the High Command and are banding as one group for tactical reasons. State party president K S Eshwarappa, home minister R Ashoka, rural development minister Jagadish Shettar and Ananth Kumar, MP from Bangalore, are part of this group.