Even after deploying its best firefighters, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to make any breakthrough in the political crisis in Karnataka, where the dissident Reddy brothers — owners of Bellary mines and state ministers — are determined to replace Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa with their nominee.

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Senior BJP leaders like party general secretary Arun Jaitley, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu and deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, today stepped in to douse the rebellion, and held a long meeting with G Janardhana Reddy, the state tourism minister and a key rebel.

But top BJP sources suggest that the Reddy lobby has refused to accept anything short of Yeddyurappa’s ouster although the party has announced he will not be removed.

The Reddy brothers — G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy (revenue minister) and a third sibling Somashekara (a BJP MLA) — claim that at least 60 out of 117 BJP MLAs are with them and want the removal of Yeddyurappa. The BJP is running the government with the help of six Independent MLAs.

The BJP utilised the financial clout of the Reddy brothers — mostly through their income from mining oin the Bellary area —during the elections. “Now the Reddy brothers are thinking ‘why not us, when it comes to the top job’,” said a top BJP source in Karnataka.

As the political crisis in Karnataka continued, Governor H R Bhardwaj today said he was keeping a watch on the situation and would act when necessary. Bhardwaj, who is here on a private visit, told reporters it would be good if the crisis was resolved soon by the party and the government as the people were suffering in the aftermath of the floods.

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