While the wait for Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to quit is over, the crisis is far from over. There is still no clarity on who would be the next chief minister although Yeddyurappa has said that he wants Sadananda Gowda, a Lok Sabha member, to succeed him.
Bharatiya Janata Party national leaders who are in Bengaluru have summoned Yeddyurappa for talks. The leaders are now immersed in discussions regarding the next chief minister. Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh are trying to convince Yeddyurappa to change his stand on the selection of the next leader.
However, Yeddyurappa continues to hold his ground and has said he won't accept anyone other than Gowda.
A legislator party meeting is very unlikely on Sunday and the national leaders are expected to return to New Delhi that night. They will either announce the next leader or would have further consultations in New Delhi and then make a final announcement, sources say.
Yeddyurappa told media persons after resigning for the first time openly, "We have proposed the name of Sadananda Gowdaji as the chief ministerial candidate."
While the BJP high command was considering national general secretary Ananth Kumar for the top post, there appears to be a slight change in their stance. Some Kumar loyalists maintain that they are still pushing for Minister for Rural Development Jagadish Shettar, who belongs to the Lingyat community like Yeddyurappa, for the post.
There is a very clear divide in the Karnataka BJP with the likes of Shettar and Home and Transport Minister R Ashok not accompanying Yeddyurappa to Raj Bhavan.
Now that Yeddyurappa has resigned, the party would now have to convene a meeting of the legislators and decide on the next leader.
Sources say that the meeting may take place only on Monday since there are many contentious issues before the party. Meetings continue to be held in Bangalore and at the moment it appears only the anti-Yeddyurappa faction is taking part in these deliberations.
The Yeddyurappa faction has, however, stayed away stating that there is nothing to discuss and the only option is to make Gowda the CM.
The BJP national leaders are in a fix since the message from New Delhi is to make either Kumar or someone from his faction the next CM. However, now they are facing the prospect of a full-fledged protest from the Yedyurappa faction.
If one looks at Yeddyurappa's body language it's evident that he has had his way. He looked down when he returned from New Delhi four days back. However, on Sunday he looked relaxed and confident and spared no effort to wave the victory symbol.
