BSY falters at the finish line
Karnataka’s embattled former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa stepped back from his decision to quit the party on Monday, ending a two-day crisis which pushed the government of arch rival CM D.V. Sadananda Gowda to the brink.
The party is said to be bracing for trouble as an angry Mr Yeddyurappa put a brave face on his move to abort his resignation from the party in the evening, when he realized that the majority of legislators who had supported him to the hilt only 8 months ago were unwilling to follow his directive and snap ties with the BJP.
Showing how close he came to leaving the party, BSY, flanked by a handful of loyalists at his home told the media: “I had decided to resign my MLA post today itself. I called Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah to submit my resignation. But my party MLAs said I should not take any hasty decisions till the party central leadership acts. Even party senior leader Arun Jaitley called me over the phone and said that he will resolve the problem very soon.”
“Heeding the request of my well-wishers and party senior leaders, I have just postponed my decision to quit party,” he told an audience that had waited for several hours to hear him. As a quid pro quo, it is learnt that BJP party president Nitin Gadkari and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, who reportedly called him, assured the former CM that his supporters in the cabinet, facing charges of anti-party activities by Mr Sadananda Gowda, and the threat of dismissal would not be axed. Mr Jaitley is reported to have offered to visit him next weekend and address his grievances.
The former chief minister, who triggered the crisis by securing the resignations of seven ministers and ten legislators on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into alleged corruption deals, however, trained his guns on his bete noire and general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, Mr Sadananda Gowda and state unit president, K.S. Eshwarappa.
In a scathing attack against the trio, that raised the spectre of upsetting the BJP bigwigs and a possible expulsion from the party, Mr. Yeddyurappa lashed out. “Mr Ananth Kumar’s sole agenda is to become the Chief Minister of the state. Mr Ananth Kumar has poisoned the mind of our revered leader L.K. Advani and created confusion in the state. He tried to dislodge me from the post of Chief Minister thrice. On three occasions. Now, he is indulging in character assassination.”
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