This Article is From Mar 22, 2012

Yeddyurappa likely to return as chief minister, BJP summons those who oppose him

Yeddyurappa likely to return as chief minister, BJP summons those who oppose him
New Delhi/ Bangalore: On Wednesday evening, B S Yeddyurappa arrived in Delhi to meet with the BJP's top leaders. Later in the night, on a chartered plane, a group of men who are fighting his return as chief minister also landed in the capital. Negotiating the terms of Mr Yeddyurappa's return to office will be Nitin Gadkari, the party president, who flew into Delhi from Nagpur on Wednesday.

"All of the important leaders wanted to meet and Nitin Gadkariji and Jaitelyji told us to come to Delhi. So we're going to meet them but the time is not fixed," he said.

When asked if he is going to become the next chief minister of Karnataka, Mr Yeddyurappa said, "I have no idea. High command knows everything."

Meanwhile, Sadananda Gowda who currently heads the government said he had been assured recently by Mr Gadkari that there would be no change in leadership in Karnataka. 

Arriving in Delhi in a chartered plane way past midnight, Mr Gowda said, "I saw certain speculations coming out by media regarding leadership change in Karnataka. We called our party president Nitin Gadkari and asked him about these speculation. He told me that there is no point to change leadership in Karnataka"

If that promise was made, it is proving near-impossible to keep. Sources in the BJP say the party has accepted that currently, it cannot afford to antagonise Mr Yeddyurappa, who has, since the weekend, proved rather unsubtly that he remains its tallest leader in Karnataka. Senior party leaders have already begun discussions on how to defuse the current crisis with  Arun Jaitley meeting Mr Gadkari on Wednesday.

In July last year, Mr Yeddyurappa was forced to quit office after a report on illegal mining indicted him for corruption. Last week, a court dismissed those charges.

A group of nearly 70 of the BJPs MLAs showed their allegiance to him by moving into a five-star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore, which was once owned by actor Sanjay Khan and hosted the wedding of his daughter to actor Hrithik Roshan. On Tuesday, Mr Yeddurappa's supporters refused to report to work at the Karnataka Assembly for the budget session. After negotiations on Tuesday night with the party's central leadership, Mr Yeddyurappa and his large team showed up in the Assembly on Wednesday. That meant that the current chief minister could present his budget without the embarrassing absence of most of his MLAs.

However, that didn't end the BJP's troubles in the state where it is running its first government. In a critical by-election, the BJP lost the Udipi-Chikmagalur seat - the former constituency of Mr Gowda. The defeat is a victory in disguise for Mr Yeddyurappa who chose not to campaign there, allegedly because his party had reservations about the corruption cases against him, and whether that would affect voters.

Mr Gowda was hand-picked by Mr Yeddyurappa as his replacement when he stepped down. Now, Mr Gowda is unwilling to make room for the return of his mentor. On Wednesday evening, a group of 10 MLAs met Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj to insist that Mr Gowda be allowed to continue in office. Their leader, B Jharkiholi, said, "The people of Karnataka are watching everything. We have faith that Sadananda Gowda will not be changed. We support him as chief minister. But we must be ready for any high command decision." That led to a summons to Delhi for the entire lot.

The dispute between the current and former chief minister has caste overtones as well. Mr Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, chose a Vokkaliga to replace him. Both are dominant communities in the state - and the BJP is in a bind now in case they have alienated the Lingayat vote bank. Would one time Yeddyurappa foe turned ally, Jagadish Shettar, another Lingayat, be a potential Chief Ministerial choice that would satisfy Mr Yeddyurappa if he is given the chair himself? And how would the Vokkaliga community react to a Chief Minister from their community being dumped on the demands of the volatile Mr Yeddyurappa? Elections to the state assembly are due in 2013.
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