Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa continued to hold the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to ransom, threatening a potential split in the state unit of the party if he was given the marching orders.
BJP insiders feel that Yeddyurappa’s forced exit could prove expensive with the panchayat and taluk polls round the corner and subsequently the party might lose its support base in the southern state.
Even as the core group of the BJP decided unanimously to remove Yeddyurappa from the top post, the Karnataka chief minister remained defiant. “There is no question of my resignation. I have not been asked to resign by my party. I have already asked for a judicial probe on the issue of transfer of government land to my family members.” Yeddyurappa reached Delhi on Monday evening.
In the earlier round of consultations, the core group of the BJP – which has replaced the traditionally highest authority in the party, the Parliamentary Board – decided that Yeddyurappa could stay in office for a month until the local body elections in the state were complete.
But, subsequently, when another land scam emerged, the core group decided enough was enough. Party President Nitin Gadkari was given the task to get Yeddyurappa’s resignation.
Five Karnataka ministers reached Delhi this morning to lobby in support of Yeddyurappa. After closed door meet ings with Gadkari and senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, the ministers were hopeful that they had managed to stave off the threat and that Yeddyurappa would continue as chief minister.
“We have told our leaders that there was a possibility that the government in Karnataka might not survive if Yeddyurappa is removed from the top post. He is the face of BJP in the state and the Opposition has been targeting him because they know he can win elections for BJP,” said a senior BJP leader from Karnataka.
“We have also told our central leaders that if the chief minister is asked to go, it will send a wrong message to his community and will show its effect in the upcoming elections. Senior leaders of the party have assured us that they will keep these points while taking a final decision,” he said. Yeddyurappa is a Lingayat, the powerful backward class community in the state.
The defiant chief minister is facing several corruption charges but he recently came under the scanner after he had illegally transferred government land to his family members. Although his family returned the land and he initiated a judicial probe into the incident, the party’s central leadership had little sympathy for the beleagured chief minister.
Yeddurappa sent VS Acharya, the minister for higher education, CM Udasi, PWD minister, SA Ramdas, medical eduation minister, home minister R Ashok and V Somanna, minister for food and civil supplies to lobby on his behalf to Delhi.
Yeddyurappa surprised the central leadership when he decided to fly to Delhi from Puttaparthi in a special aircraft along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
If this was not enough, Gadkari left for Nagpur even before Yeddyurappa landed in the national capital inspite of the Karnataka chief minister’s announcement that he would meet all senior leaders before he left for Delhi. The central leadership has authorised Gadkari to take a final decision on Yeddyurappa.
Apart from Karnataka ministers, BJP’s Members of Parliament from the state have also been lobbying in support of Yeddyurappa for the past two days making his removal difficult for the BJP high command.
It is possible that Yeddyurappa might get a short lease of life, as Gadkari is preoccupied with both his political and family life: Once the Bihar election results are out on November 24, the BJP-Janata Dal United alliance in the state is expected to form the government, Gadkari’s son is getting married on December 3. But eventually the BJP is clear that Yeddyurappa will have to go.
