BSY, DVS in high-stakes game
Beleaguered former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa launched a two-pronged strategy to replace Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda with his nominee and ensure continuance of his supporters in the cabinet after negotiations between his emissary and that of Mr Gowda failed on Saturday.
Disclosing details of the day-long behind-the-scene activities and factors which forced the former chief minister to secure the resignations of loyalist ministers and legislators, sources in the party said Mr Yeddyurappa held three rounds of discussions with his supporters and a one-on-one with RSS representative to BJP, Mr. G. Satish. Though he did not attack RSS leaders for not extending moral support after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe against him, the former chief minister asked Mr Satish to make sure that Mr Gowda did not axe his supporters in the cabinet. He, however, was unsuccessful in extracting an assurance from the RSS representative, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the party drafted law and parliaementary affairs minister S. Suresh Kumar to meet Mr Yeddyurappa’s emissary and water resources minister Basavaraj Bommai for negotiations. The move ran into rough weather when the Chief Minister tried to convince senior central leaders on the need to drop five ministers belonging to his predecessor’s camp as they were embarrassing him at regular intervals.
As soon as news of a breakdown of negotiations reached Mr Yeddyurappa’s camp, the ministers in question decided to hand over their resignation letters to the former chief minister and help him strike a bargain with central leaders. The sources said senior leaders, however, were unperturbed about the moves by Mr Yeddyurappa and his supporters and were confident of overcoming the crisis.
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