Yeddyurappa says KJP won’t merge with BJP but will support NDA

mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore, Sept 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has decided not to merge his party Karnataka Janatha Paksha with the Bharatiya Janata Party but support the National Democratic Alliance. This came after a meeting of the KJP to decide its stand on its ties with the BJP.

 

"We have unanimously decided that we will not be merging with BJP or any party but will support NDA," Yeddyurappa said after the meeting. Earlier on Thursday, Yeddyurappa’s emissary Leher Singh had met senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Yeddyurappa is credited with singlehandedly building and bringing the BJP to power in Karnataka, the first southern state where the party had its government, in 2008. Yeddyurappa was forced to step down as the chief minister after he was indicted by the Karnataka Lokayukta in mining scams and illegal assets cases. He soon quit the BJP and formed the Karnataka Janatha Paksha but failed to make a major impact in the 2013 Assembly elections in the state.

Yedyurappa had secretly visited the national capital twice in the past 50 days to clinch a seat sharing deal with the Congress. He even met a top leader of the Congress to explore the possibility of such a tie up.

But, the Congress insisted on an informal seat ’adjustment’. Realising that such an arrangement will benefit the Congress and not his party, Yeddyurappa had reportedly started negotiations with the BJP.