There is no end to the troubles of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka as former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa remains firm in his demand for a leadership change in the state government. The central leadership of the party, however, appears not in a mood to budge to the pressure.
Yeddyurappa and his supporters want Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda to be replaced by panchayati raj minister Jagadish Shettar and have even called for a legislative party meeting to take a decision on the issue. “We don’t see a change in leadership in Karnataka for now and there would be no meeting of the legislative party on June 30 as demanded by Yeddyurappa and his supporters,” a senior BJP leader, expected to leave for Bangalore tomorrow for talks, said on condition of anonymity. Yeddyurappa enjoys the support of atleast 60 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) of the 121 MLAs of BJP.
Apart from MLAs, some members of Parliament (MPs) from Karnataka are also in favour of removing Gowda from the chief minister’s post, say leaders close to Yeddyurappa. Adding to the problems, Karnataka unit President K S Eshwarappa has also staked a claim to the chief minister’s chair.
The differences between BJP’s central leadership and Yeddyurappa widened in the past few months when the latter pressed for leadership change in the government.
