Yeddyurappa to stay in BJP for now

The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has again found itself in a crisis. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has threatened to split the party in the state. He was, however, stopped by the intervention of the central leadership, which asked him not to take a decision in haste.

This evening, Yeddyurappa announced he would not quit the party for now. However, he blamed Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, state BJP president K S Eshwarappa and national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar for the current crisis in the state. He has also given an ultimatum to the party leadership that it should decide on his stature and role in the state party structure at once.

“I have accepted the suggestion of our national leader, Arun Jaitley, my well-wishers and heads of various mutts in the state and decided not to quit the party immediately. I will take a decision regarding the future of my political career very soon,” he said at a press conference here this evening.

The former chief minister took his decision after Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, and BJP president Nitin Gadkari spoke to him.

A section of the BJP central leadership feels the party leadership has betrayed Yeddyura-ppa by not supporting him. Yeddyurappa’s supporters in the central leadership accused the party’s leadership of double standards and said it had readily inducted

Babu Singh Kushwaha in Uttar Pradesh when he, too, faced corruption charges. However, the same logic was not used to defend Yeddyurappa, it said.

Blaming Ananth Kumar of feeding “malicious information” to BJP leader L K Advani, Yeddyurappa said, “Ananth Kumar, with the help of mine owners, had made efforts to topple me from the chief ministership at least three times earlier.”

Yeddyurappa, the Lingayat strongman, has been fuming at the BJP central leadership for ignoring him, particularly after the Supreme Court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into illegal mining during his tenure as chief minister. He blamed Ananth Kumar for forcing him to resign as chief minister about nine months earlier.

Stating he had the support of 70 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs), he said, “Already, 40 MLAs have stated they would support me in writing, and another 13 are ready to follow my orders any time. In all, I have the support of 70 MLAs, and I am grateful to those who have stood by me all these years. I will continue my battle within the party.”

Earlier, Yeddyurappa held discussions with his supporters at his residence. He also visited the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur and had discussions with pontiff Shivakumar Swamiji early this morning.

Saying Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda had failed to administer the state, he said, “He should have owned moral responsibility for the defeat of the party candidate in the Udupi-Chikmagalur bypoll, and resigned as chief minister.”

The party high command has told Sadananda Gowda not to make any comment in public about the crisis or about Yeddyurappa and his supporters. He has also been told to talk to Yeddyurappa to resolve the issues.

Any resolution of the standoff looks difficult, as Gowda supporters are also threatening to quit the Assembly if he is replaced.

Municipal administration minister Balachandra Jarkiholi, who is leading the pro-Gowda group in the state party structure, claims the fraction has the support of about 60 of the 120 legislators.

With BJP leaders not inclined to remove Gowda, Yeddyurappa loyalists have, for the first time, begun to talk of elections as the best way out. Elections to the state legislative assembly are due in about a year. The BJP had come to power for the first time in Karnataka on May 30, 2008, with Yeddyurappa as chief minister.