Barely a few days after Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa managed to secure the top job in the state, he made sure to keep all factions within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top brass in good humour.
Almost a week after the BJP core group and party President Nitin Gadkari decided to keep Yeddyurappa as the chief minister because of the upcoming panchayat and taluk elections in the state, the Karnataka chief minister was in Delhi to ‘thank’ all senior leaders who stood by him during the crisis.
“These are courtesy visits to all important leaders of BJP’s central leadership. These are part of Yeddyurappa’s efforts to strive in keeping everybody together in the party. He also met the Members of Parliament (MPs) from Karnataka because they also supported him during the crisis and lobbied before the BJP leadership in his support,” said a senior BJP leader from Karnataka.
During his visit to Delhi, Yeddyurappa met senior leader LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Bal Apte, a BJP leader who is also close to the RSS, former BJP presidents Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh.
Sources in the BJP state unit said the central members had directed Yeddyurappa to reform himself and he should make concerted efforts on his part to keep everybody together. Senior leaders of BJP feel that Yeddyurappa doesn’t give due respect and listen to them in running the state party unit.
The present impasse was the fourth attempt to destabilise the Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka by factions within the BJP along with JD(S) and the Congress Party.
Ever since the allegations were found to be true that Yeddyurappa had illegally transferred government land in the name of his family members, the Opposition parties in the southern state demanded his resignation.
Soon after the crisis came to light, the BJP central leadership had decided to replace Yeddyurappa, but they had to change their decision fearing that a leadership change might topple the first BJP government in the state and it would also adversely affect BJP’s chances of doing well in the coming panchayat and taluk elections.
Seeing the popularity of Yeddyurappa in the lingayat community, the BJP leadership decided not to upset the caste in state.
