New Delhi, November 23
The BJP seems to have eventually buckled under the defiance of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and backed out of seeking his resignation for his alleged corruption and nepotism in de-notifying and distributing land to his sons and daughters.
According to BJP sources, some party leaders met at party’s parliamentary chairman LK Advani’s house this evening to discuss the issue. Eventually, it was decided that party president Nitin Gadkari and Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley would take a final decision.
Thus, after four days of keeping up pressure on Yeddyurappa to sacrifice his chair to strengthen BJP’s fortnight long campaign in Parliament to pin down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s UPA Government on corruption charges, the party seemed to have relented. “The issue is wide open. Till yesterday, they were insisting that Yeddyurappa’s exit was just a matter of time,” said a senior party leader.
Advani advanced his return to Delhi on Sunday morning to facilitate an early discussion by BJP core group where the majority of leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and Murli Manohar Joshi, felt there was no option but to ask Yeddyurappa to step down.
Even Arun Jaitley, who was earlier non-committal, had agreed with them. A day earlier, when Yeddyurappa met Gadkari along with state core committee leaders, he had submitted all the necessary papers related to allegations against him. After examining the documents, Jaitley on Sunday reportedly told the party’s core group that it was an “open and shut case” against Yeddyurappa.
Then the party asked Jaitley and Gadkari to talk to Yeddyurappa and secure his resignation with minimal
damage to the state government. Yeddyurappa was summoned. But instead of responding immediately, he sent two of his trusted emissaries - state Home Minister VS Acharya and former Union Minister Dhananjay Kumar, who gave Jaitley papers to claim that there was much more damaging material against others, including some BJP leaders. He also said that Yeddyurappa felt victimised by the BJP’s insistence on his exit.
A sting operation by regional TV news channel TV9 showing his minister G Janardhana Reddy egging on opponents to bring down his government only helped
Yeddyurappa’s case.
Sources said the party will now suggest some corrective measures and set up a steering committee to run day-to-day affairs of the Karnataka government. It may also ask Yeddyurappa to pay some penalty to legalise the land allotted to his sons and daughters. He has already announced a one-man judicial commission to inquire into all the allegations of irregularities in land allotment right from 1994, when HD Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister.
