M A I N   N E W S

Karnataka Crisis
Reddys refuse to relent
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 2
Day-long hectic parleys with rebellious Reddy brothers in Karnataka failed to resolve the crisis in the BJP and the threat to its first-ever government in the South.

Instead, there were clear indications that the crisis may assume bigger dimensions with a sharp division in the central leadership of the party on whether Chief Minister BS Yedyurappa be retained or replaced to appease the mining dons in the state cabinet - Janardhan Reddy and Karunakaran Reddy.

A meeting of BJP president Rajnath Singh, general secretary Ananth Kumar, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and others at the residence of LK Advani late this evening failed to come up with a solution.

But the outcome of this meeting was evident with a visibly downcast senior leader commenting, “We will come out with a solution anyway, what the solution will be even I cannot say. In a lighter vein, he said, “Read my body language.”

Before the meeting at Advani’s residence, Jaitely and Ananth Kumar held prolonged confabulations with Reddy brothers, spearheading the rebellion against the Chief Minister for imposing heavy taxes on goods carrying truck, adversely affecting the profits Reddys are accruing in their mining business.

On the other hand, Yedyuprappa camp is equally confident that the Reddys will not succeed in pulling down their government. A BJP source said, “The Congress is not at all keen in helping Reddys by pulling down this government.

He mentioned reports of close business relations between late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his son Jaganmohan Reddy with the minining dons and how the brothers could indirectly enhance the financial clout of Jaganmohan Reddy. There was also the reports of how recently the Andhra Pradesh government led by K Rosaiah impounded in Hyderabad a chartered plane being used by the Bellary mine kings. He also indicated that if Reddy brothers tried to split the Karnataka BJP legislative party to bring down Yedyurappa government, JD-S president and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his sons HD Revanna and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy were ready with JD-S support. But more importantly the BJP sources said, “If we succumb to the Reddys and replace Yedyurappa and then he rebels, we will be in a bigger soup. At worse, it is better to allow the government to fall and go for fresh elections rather than be blackmailed by the Reddy brothers.”

On the other hand, insiders also pointed out that if the BJP government were to fall, it would crash all hopes of BJP ever conquering the southern bastion notwithstanding its claim of Karnataka being the gateway to southern India.

The Karnataka crisis has impacted the BJP’s central leadership as well. It appeared sharply divided on the issue. While Rajnath Singh and the RSS appear to be backing Yedyurappa, insiders wondered how BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar was involved in discussions with the Reddy brothers when he is known to have had a long standing dispute with Yedyurappa.