Not resigning, but have support of 70 MLAs, warns Yeddyurappa

Mangalore Today / CNN-IBN

Bangalore, May 14:  Amid much chaos at a press conference in Bangalore, BS Yeddyurappa offered some breathing space to his party by declaring that he is not quitting the BJP just yet. However, he made it clear that he has the support of 70 of the party’s 121 MLAs, and that they remain loyal to him.

Mr Yeddyurappa also reasserted his demand that current chief minister, Sadananda Gowda, be replaced. Nine months ago, when he was forced to resign as chief minister, it was Mr yeddyurappa who hand-picked Mr Gowda as his successor. He now wants the head of the government to be picked from his Lingayat community.

Mr Yeddyurappa blamed the current crisis in the Karnataka branch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on political opponents KS Eshwarappa and Ananth Kumar. He also said that he has been betrayed because the BJP has failed to deliver on its promise to reinstate him as chief minister. He was made to resign after he was indicted for corruption in a report on illegal mining submitted last year by the state’s Lokayukta or ombudsman.

Mr Yeddyurappa does indeed hold the potential to split the BJP and cost his party its first government in the South. Nine ministers in the Gowda government have handed letters of resignation to the former Chief Minister.

Mr Yeddyurappa is reportedly feeling slighted by the lack of support shown to him by his party’s central leadership after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry against him last week for nepotism, illegal land acquisition and favoring top mining companies.

The BJP has refused to replace the mild-mannered and affable Mr Gowda as Chief Minister of Karnataka. Top party leaders including party president Nitin Gadkari met Mr Gowda in New Delhi last night to discuss the renewed dissidence in the state.

Over the weekend, Mr Yeddyurappa caused some more embarrassment to the party by praising Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "I have to praise Sonia Gandhi. I noticed that Congress party and its people are united and supportive if any one of their party members gets into trouble. They help each other and resolve the problems," he told a gathering.

The BJP distanced itself from Mr Yeddyurappa’s statement with Mr Gowda saying he could not answer for his one-time mentor why he had praised Congress leaders.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said, "Mr Yeddurappa’s statement is significant because it reflects the ground situation in Karnataka. It reflects that the people of Karnataka are fed up with the misrule of the BJP (and) their attempt to try and convert a secular state into a bureaucracy. With the elections in six months from now, the mood of the people of Karnataka is getting reflected unwittingly through the statements of none other than Mr Yeddyurappa."