Yeddyurappa, chief minister-in-waiting, hopes for good news from BJP today

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, March 22, 2012:  BS Yeddyurappa seems to be just a few inches away now from the finish line in Karnataka. The man he hopes to replace as chief minister, Sadananda Gowda, is in Delhi, and seems to be on a spree of exit interviews. Mr Gowda has met this morning with his party’s most senior leaders - LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and finally, BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
 
Last night, Mr Gowda said in Bangalore before taking a chartered plane to Delhi that he had been promised by Mr Gadkari that there would be no change in leadership in Karnataka. Not if Mr Yeddyurappa can help it.
 
Since a court dismissed corruption charges against him last week, Mr Yeddyurappa has been proving his might to his party in Karnataka. He was made to quit as Chief Minister in July, when those charges first surfaced in a report on illegal mining.  There are other cases still in court against him and his family for using his office to help themselves to public land at sweet prices.
 
When Mr Yeddyurappa arrived at the Delhi airport last night, he was asked if he was going to become the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. "I have no idea. High command knows everything," he replied. "All important leaders wanted to meet and Nitin Gadkariji and Jaitelyji told us to come to Delhi. So we’re going to meet them," he added.

Sources in the BJP say the party has accepted that currently, it cannot afford to antagonise Mr Yeddyurappa, who has, since the weekend, proved rather unsubtly that he remains its tallest leader in Karnataka.

A group of nearly 70 of the BJPs MLAs showed their allegiance to him by moving into a five-star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore, which was once owned by actor Sanjay Khan and hosted the wedding of his daughter to actor Hrithik Roshan. On Tuesday, Mr Yeddyurappa’s supporters refused to report to work at the Karnataka Assembly for the budget session. After negotiations on Tuesday night with the party’s central leadership, Mr Yeddyurappa and his large team showed up in the Assembly on Wednesday. That meant that the current Chief Minister could present his budget without the embarrassing absence of most of his MLAs.
 
However, that didn’t end the BJP’s troubles in the state where it is running its first government. In a critical by-election yesterday, the BJP lost the Lok Sabha seat from Udipi-Chikmagalur  - the former constituency of Mr Gowda. The defeat is a victory in disguise for Mr Yeddyurappa who chose not to campaign there, allegedly because his party had reservations about the corruption cases against him, and whether that would affect voters.

Mr Gowda was hand-picked by Mr Yeddyurappa as his replacement when he stepped down. Now, Mr Gowda is unwilling to make room for the return of his mentor. On Wednesday evening, a group of 10 MLAs met Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj to insist that Mr Gowda be allowed to continue in office. Their leader, B Jharkiholi, said, "The people of Karnataka are watching everything. We have faith that Sadananda Gowda will not be changed. We support him as Chief Minister. But we must be ready for any high command decision." That led to a summons to Delhi for the entire lot.
 
The dispute between the current and former Chief Minister has caste overtones as well. Mr Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, chose a Vokkaliga to replace him. Both are dominant communities in the state - and the BJP is in a bind now in case they have alienated the Lingayat vote bank. Would one time Yeddyurappa foe turned ally, Jagadish Shettar, another Lingayat, be a potential Chief Ministerial choice that would satisfy Mr Yeddyurappa if he is given the chair himself? And how would the Vokkaliga community react to a Chief Minister from their community being dumped on the demands of the volatile Mr Yeddyurappa? Elections to the state Assembly are due in 2013.

Courtesy: NDTV