Bangalore:
The crisis within the BJP in Karnataka has now moved out of the state to reach New Delhi. Around 60 MLAs will reach the national capital today to demand the reinstatement of BS Yeddyurappa as chief minister.
The MLAs, led by senior leader G S Basavaraj, are expected to demand a meeting of the BJP legislative party where Mr Yeddyurappa should be elected as its leader and consequently be made the new chief minister. To ensure that his flock of supporters stays together, sources have told NDTV that around 50-odd MLAs loyal to Mr Yeddyurappa are currently camping at a resort in the outskirts of Bangalore. This has also been done to prevent the incumbent chief minister, D V Sadananda Gowda, from influencing Mr Yeddyurappa's supporters.10 MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also threatened to resign in support Mr Yeddyurappa, if the party fails to put him back in the chief minister's chair.
The clamour for Yeddyurappa-as-chief-minister comes on the back of recent events where the veteran leader, hailing from the formidable Lingayat community, flexed his political muscle in the form of a massive rally and earlier, in a gathering of several MLAs at his birthday celebrations.
But the party has remained firm on its refusal to dislodge Mr Gowda, his hand-picked successor, from the chief minister's post, telling Mr Yeddyurappa instead that he needed to clear himself of the various charges of corruption pending against him in courts.
Mr Yeddyurappa was forced to step down as chief minister in July 2011 after he was indicted in the Karnataka Lokayukta's report on illegal mining.
He was jailed in October last year after being arrested for two different cases that involved him using his office as Chief Minister to make prime property available to his children and their spouses at phenomenal bargains. He was released from Bangalore's Central Prison after 25 days after.