Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari said he will return to Delhi on Tuesday and then decide on the fate of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who faces the threat of being axed over an alleged land scam.
Close on the heels of Yeddyurappa refusing to step down, Gadkari left for Nagpur from New Delhi at 18.45 hrs on Monday putting on hold a decision on Yeddyurappa. On reaching Nagur, the BJP chief issued a statement on Monday night saying that he will hold talks with Yeddyurappa following which a final decision on whether he will continue as the Karnataka CM or not will be taken.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa who met senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley seemed surprisingly upbeat and said the talks between them went very well. "We discussed at length the development of the party in Karnataka and I was happy with the manner in which the discussions went," he said.
The Karnataka CM, however, did not respond to any questions regarding his resignation. He said that he will stay in New Delhi for two more days and return to Bangalore once the crisis is over. "I am hopeful it will be over soon."
He has also been meeting with some of his cabinet colleagues who had gone to Delhi to support him.
Some observers point out that the despite the BJP core committee's decision to remove Yeddyurappa from his post, the party has not made any formal announcement asking him to quit.
The Karnataka government has issued a notification appointing former high court judge B Padmaraj as head of the commission which will probe land scams in the last ten years, including against the chief minister and his family members.
The chief minister, who is facing allegations of a land scam, has already ordered an inquiry.
After ignoring summons by the Bharatiya Janata Party top brass to come for a meeting in Delhi on Sunday, Yeddyurappa had finally taken a flight to the capital on Monday. He travelled to New Delhi from Puttaparathy in the same aircraft as Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The two leaders were at Puttaparathy as part of the 85th birthday celebrations of Satya Sai Baba.
The intense haggling over Yeddyurappa's future continued within the BJP circles with the Karnataka CM seeeking time till December when Panchayat polls are to be held in the state.
Dr Acharya told rediff.com that it would not be easy to replace the chief minister and he has conveyed the same to Gadkari.
Acharya said that he has told the high command in clear terms that axing Yeddyurappa would be fatal to the BJP government in Karnataka. "How can a CM be changed on the basis of allegations made by Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy. He is not our party leader for the high command to act on the basis of his complaint. I have told Gadkari to review the entire situation once again and then take a decision only after we have given our reply to every allegation. Yeddyurappa continues to be the CM of Karnataka and we hope that it would remain that way," Acharya said.
Meanwhile, sources in the party said that Gadkari was not impressed with Acharya's explanations and said that the core committee of the BJP had decided on changing the CM at any cost.
Gadkari also explained the pressure on the party as they could not take on the UPA over corruptions charges at the Centre when their CM faced similar charges in Karnataka. However Yeddyurappa may get a fresh lease of life in case Parliament is adjourned sine die and if this does not happen then Yeddyurappa will have no choice but to go.
Yeddyurappa's core group have been requesting Gadkari to give him one more chance and say that it would set a very bad precedent if the BJP axed him on the basis of allegations by the opposition. Moreover, they also said that the government will fall in case Yeddyurappa is replaced. The issue of a replacement did not crop up during the meeting since they feel that the man cannot be replaced.
Congress leaders in Karnataka have decided to call on Governor H R Bharadwaj on Monday evening and seek his intervention in the wake of the ongoing political crisis.
The delegation will be led by state Congress chief Parameshwar, who will submit a memorandum to the governor to this effect. In the memorandum, Congress members claim that action ought to be taken since the administration of the state has collapsed and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has lost the confidence of his cabinet.
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