Former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat strongman B S Yeddyurappa Sunday dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command and state leadership to take disciplinary action against party legislators supporting him and his new party – Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).
Any action against the MLAs would result in the fall of the Jagadish Shettar government in the state, six months ahead of the elections in May 2013, warned Yeddyurappa.
Addressing a massive rally after taking over as president of his newly-launched party here, Yeddyurappa said, “I just heard that the BJP high command and Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar have threatened to take disciplinary action against my supporters for participating in on Sunday’s rally. If you (Shettar) have guts, dissolve the Assembly and go for elections. Your government is functioning on my loyalists’ support. If you have courage, step down and face the elections.”
He said the Shettar government is nothing but a BJP-KJP coalition. “If they want the continuance of the Shettar government, the BJP should desist from taking any disciplinary action against my loyalists,” he said.
Ahead of the formal launch of KJP, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had on Saturday cracked the whip by sacking Cooperation Minister B J Puttaswamy, a Yeddyurappa loyalist, from the Cabinet, and, the party high command suspending another staunch supporter and member of Parliament from Tumkur, G S Basavaraj. Both were issued show cause notices.
Yeddyurappa said no party made him chief minister in 2008, but the support of the people of the state.
The 70-year-old Yeddyurappa took over as KJP President at the rally in this north Karnataka town, about 350-km from Bangalore. Ignoring party warnings, as many as 14 MLAs attended the KJP convention in Haveri.
The formal launch of KJP marked a new beginning in Karnataka politics. Though it is not the first time that a regional political outfit is launched in Karnataka, the launch of KJP is likely to result in the downfall of the Jagadish Shettar government. As many as 14 MLAs and six MLCs shared the dais with Yeddyurappa. If the BJP high command and the state party president K S Eshwarappa take any action and suspend these BJP legislators, it may result in the fall of the government.
The opposition Congress and JD(S) in the state legislature are likely to demand the vote of confidence in the assembly, which is in session at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha at Belgaum.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP government in Karnataka suffered a major setback as seven ministers and 14 party legislators openly backed B S Yeddyurappa’s new political outfit – Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). The former chief minister on Sunday formally launched KJP at a massive public rally here, which was attended by over 100,000 people from across the state.
Ministers in Jagadish Shettar cabinet – C M Udasi, public works, Shobha Karandlaje, energy, Basavaraj Bommai, water resources, Murugesh Nirani, industries, M P Renukacharya, excise, and Revu Naik, Belamagi, animal husbandry and Sunil Valyapure, infrastructure attended a breakfast hosted as show of strength by Yeddyurappa loyalist Shivaraj Sajjanar hours ahead of the public meeting here to formally launch the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Yeddyurappa was present at the breakfast.
The breakfast meeting was also attended by three Parliament members – B Y Raghavendra, G S Basavaraj and Shivakumar Udasi apart from 10 chairmen of boards and corporations.
Asked about reports that Karandlaje, Bommai and Nirani had offered to quit the ministry, Yeddyurappa told reporters after the breakfast meeting that he had asked all ministers supporting him not to do so.
He asserted that there was no threat to the ministry headed by Jagadish Shettar if the BJP accepted that it is running a coalition government with his (Yeddyurappa’s) supporters in Karnataka.
The BJP had warned that even attending breakfast meeting or tea parties hosted by Yeddyurappa loyalists at Haveri on Sunday would attract disciplinary action.
The move to attend the breakfast by these ministers and legislators came a day after infrastructure minister Sunil Valyapure quit the Shettar cabinet hours after BJP sacked cooperation minister B J Puttaswamy and suspended Lok Sabha member G S Basavaraj from the party for backing the party’s first chief minister in Karnataka.
However, Shettar told reporters in Bangalore that his government had majority. He also said he had not received the resignation of Valyapure.
The BJP has 118 members, including speaker K G Bopaiah in the 225-member assembly and 44 in the 75-member legislative council.
