New Delhi, November 6
The BJP seems to be “inching” towards some resolution of its Karnataka crisis with the party high command signalling here today that it was willing to accommodate the dissident views short of removal of the Chief Minister. The crisis was born out of a demand by Bellary Reddy brothers for replacement of Chief Minister BS Yedyurappa with a person of their choice.
After a late night meeting at the house of senior BJP leader LK Advani, party sources said: “Differences have been narrowed down. There will be no change of leadership.”
The meeting was attended among others by Yedyurappa, party president Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and M Venkaiah Naidu as well as Karnataka BJP chief Sadanand Gowda. The younger of Reddy brothers, Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy, flew off to Hyderabad before the meeting threatening to bring in resignation letters of nearly 60 BJP MLAs who, he said, were not willing to work with Yedyurappa.
But it seems Janardhana Reddy was apparently told in no uncertain terms that in case there was any attempt to destabilise the Yedyurappa government, the party would be forced to go for fresh elections, putting the fear of God in the hearts of the dissidents.
Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother Karunakara Reddy, called mining kings of Bellary, have been spearheading the rebellion against the CM. They had received some consolation in the form of an offer from Yedyurappa to the high command that he was willing to drop his two trusted lieutenants - Rural Development Minister Shobha Karandlaje and Principal Secretary VP Baligar.
The day was marked by Yedyurappa going to meet Murli Manohar Joshi at his residence along with Sadanand Gowda and Home Minister VS Acharya.
Talking to The Tribune, the CM said: “There are only two issues. Jagdish Shettar wants to be a minister and I had promised him that. But there was some delay in that and the Reddys exploited this and projected him as the next Chief Minister. That has been sorted out and now there is no problem.”
He said he would agree to any suggestions made by the party high command and gave nod to a coordination committee to oversee the functioning of his government.
