Embattled Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, whose government was reduced to a minority following a revolt by 19 MLAs, on Thursday dropped two more rebel ministers and sounded upbeat on winning the October 11 trust vote amid efforts to reach out to dissidents.
Taking the fight to rebel camp, Yeddyurappa removed Balachandra Jarkiholi and Anand Asnotikar from the Cabinet. Four dissident ministers were removed on Wednesday.
At the same time, sources in ruling BJP said there were prospects of some dissident MLAs being made ministers, a move that could stem the threat to the BJP’s first-ever government in the South.
The BJP high-command deputed senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu who air-dashed to the city on Thursday to defuse the crisis which showed signs of wrecking the 28-month-old government on Wednesday after 18 legislators withdrew support.
There was some silver lining for the chief minister when S.K. Bellubbi deserted the dissident camp and swore his loyalty to the chief minister, and party sources said more rebel MLAs are set to follow in his footsteps.
The chief minister also appeared to take divine help to save his government when he rushed to the famous Rajarajeswara temple at Taliparamba near Kannur for a “darshan”. He said problems with dissidents would be sorted out through talks and was confident of passing the floor test. Party sources said threat of anti-defection law being invoked against them is weighing on the minds of the dissidents, whose unity appeared to be crumbling. The rebels were hopping from city to city since they left Bengaluru on Wednesday and around a dozen of them are now in Goa.
“We are confident of proving our majority”, Naidu said, adding, grievances of rebel MLAs would be looked into. The party is in touch with them to resolve the issue.
He also reminded those MLAs who had directly submitted a letter to the governor withdrawing support to the Yeddyurappa government, that the party could invoke the anti-defection laws against them.
Tourism minister G. Janardhana Reddy, along with senior leader H.N. Anathkumar, who spearheaded in part the “Save Yeddyurappa campaign” worked overtime to win over dissidents. Significantly, Reddy had led the dissidents when the chief minister faced the revolt last year.
“We have clear majority”, Reddy said, adding, Opposition leaders Siddaramaiah (Congress) and H.D. Kumaraswamy (JDS) would have to “hang their heads” on October 11 (when the government faces the trust vote)”. —PTI