BSY hails Sonia, stuns partymen

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Two days after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe against him, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Sunday stunned both his partymen in the BJP and the Opposition Congress by praising party president Sonia Gandhi for standing by her colleagues in troubled times.

Upping the ante against the BJP, the former CM attacked his successor, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, calling him a "betrayer" for not vacating the CM post in six months to pave the way for his return after he had to quit in the wake of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining in July last year.

The beleaguered leader’s outburst came as the ruling BJP battled a fresh crisis after seven ministers loyal to him submitted their resignations to BSY on Saturday and gunned for Mr Gowda's removal.

Speaking at a function organized by Basava Samithi at Devasandra in the city, Mr Yeddyurappa said he had observed Mrs Gandhi, when she visited Tumkur recently to participate in the Guruvandana programme of the Siddaganga Math seer. “She spent time with her party leaders. I have noticed that Congress leaders are united and supportive, if any of their members is in trouble. They help each other and resolve the problem. They will not say that the court will take care of everything and just sit back,’’ he remarked.

“However, BJP leaders are not like that. They will wait for a person to get into trouble and pull him down. They try to pull the chair from beneath him and seize his position,’’ Mr Yeddyurappa lamented.

The Lingayat leader said he was pained to make such remarks on a party, which he had painstakenly built in the last 40 years. “I am not scared of an investigation nor will I try to avoid the situation. I will face the investigation,’’ he said.

Reacting to Mr Gowda’s remark that one cannot wash away sins by making offerings to gods—an obvious reference to his predecessor’s battle with scam cases— Mr Yeddyurappa hit back saying these were ‘verses coming from the devil’s mouth’. “Such words should not have come from a traitor’s mouth. God will never forgive people who break promises,’’ Mr Yeddyurappa remarked.