The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday asked Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to step down “immediately” following the indictment by the Lokayukta over illegal mining in the state, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Karnataka chief minister B.S.Yeddyurappa appeared to be on slippery wicket as party leaders who heard him out at a meeting here late on Wednesday evening, deciding to take a call on his continuance at parliamentary board meeting on Thursday, party sources said.
Yeddyurappa, who reached New Delhi on Wednesday evening went to the residence of party president Nitin Gadkari to attend the meeting, convened in the wake of report by Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde who has levelled charges against him.
The meeting, which lasted over three hours, was attended by senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, who is BJP party in-charge of Karnataka and former president Rajnath Singh.
BJP sources said that party leaders told Yeddyurappa that the party could ill-afford to defend him at a time when it has taken up cudgels on the issue of corruption against the Congress-led UPA government. They said the leadership was veering to the view that Yeddyurappa should be replaced to save the party from embarrassment of defending a “tainted” leader.