For the second time in 40 days, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and BJP’s trouble-shooter, Arun Jaitley failed to convince Lingayat strongman, B.S. Yeddyurappa to drop his plan to form his own outfit on December 9.
Even though several leaders close to Mr Yeddyurappa told the media that their leader would be meeting Mr Jaitley Sunday morning, the meeting was advanced to Saturday midnight in an attempt to avoid the media glare.
Speaking to this newspapaper, a source close to BSY said: “Mr Jaitley was given the task of convincing Mr Yeddyurappa to remain in the party but BSY decided not to succumb to any pressure and so the talks failed.”
According to the source, Mr Yeddyurappa told the BJP leader that he was in no mood to strike a deal.
Mr Jaitley arrived in Bengaluru Saturday night and appealed to Mr Yeddyurappa not to take a decision in haste. but he did not pay heed and so Mr Jaitley had to leave without achieving results.
Though Mr Jaitley was confident Mr Yeddyurappa would give in this time, it did not happen. “Our leader no longer trusts anyone in BJP,” the source contended.
The BJP is worried because of the impact Mr Yeddyurappa’s exit will have as he is the foremost leader of the Lingayats, the largest community in the state and may take away a large chunk of community votes when he floats his outfit, the KJP. For the last decade, Lingayats rallied behind BJP because of Mr Yeddyurappa. They may sever ties with the party out of sympathy for him. New CM Jagadish Shettar, also a Lingayat, has failed to make any impact on the community. The BJP, particularly in the Cauvery basin (in south Karnataka), has come in for severe criticism for the manner in which Mr Shettar handled the river water sharing dispute with Tamil Nadu.
However, BSY’s supporters are upbeat over the momentum the new party has gained. The KJP will be launched on December 9 and several BJP ministers and MLAs are expected to join him.