Yeddyurappa dares BJP to take action against his loyalists

He formally launched his Karnataka Janata Party today in Haveri

Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday dared the BJP high command and state leadership to take disciplinary action against legislators supporting him and his new party – Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Any action against the MLAs would result in the fall of the Jagadish Shettar government in the state, six months ahead of the elections in May 2013.

Addressing a massive public rally after taking over as President of KJP, here, Yeddyurappa said, “I just heard that the BJP high command and chief minister Jagadish Shettar have threatened to take action against my supporters for participating in today’s rally. If you (Shettar) have guts dissolve the assembly and go to elections. Your government is functioning on my support. The people of the state have lost faith in you. If you have courage, step down and face the elections.”

The Shettar government is nothing but a coalition of BJP-KJP and is surviving with the support of his loyalists. “If they want the continuance of Shettar government, the BJP should desist from taking any disciplinary action against his loyalists,” he said.

Ahead of the formal launch of KJP, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had on Saturday cracked the whip sacking Cooperation Minister B J Puttaswamy, a loyalist of Yeddyurappa, from the cabinet and the party high command suspending another staunch supporter and member of parliament from Tumkur G S Basavaraj from the party. Both were issued show cause notices.

Yeddyurappa said no party made him chief minister in 2008, but he got power with the support of the people of the state.