'Pained' Yeddyurappa faxes his resignation to Gadkari

The 40-year old-association between B S Yeddyurappa and the Bharatiya Janata Party came to an end today. The former Karnataka chief minister, who has been threatening to quit for six months now, finally faxed his resignation to party president Nitin Gadkari.  

Yeddyurappa wrote, "I am writing this letter amidst a lot of pain. I am saddened by the fact that I am resigning from a party of which I was part of for the past 40 years and the party, which I built in the state of Karnataka with my very own hands. My resignation is not due to any other reason but due to my own party members. Many in the party thought that putting me down was the only way to secure their future in the BJP. They thought by sidelining me, they would grow in the party. Hence, I have decided to resign from the party."

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"I have decided to form a new party. I am not power hungry. I want to remind you that when we were in a coalition with the JD-S (Janata Dal Secular) and they refused to hand over power to us, my own party leaders had told me to give in to their demands. I had flatly refused to do so and decided that we should contest the elections, which we did and I ensured that we won," he said. "I will now form a new party and work for the development of Karnataka."

The resignation was faxed just before he left his Dollar's Colony residence in Bangalore for Freedom Park where he is expected to address his supporters.

After the rally, Yeddyurappa will hand over his resignation as the MLA to the Speaker at Vidhan Soudha.

Yeddyurappa was flocked by his loyalists all morning. During a meeting at his residence he told his core supporters to stay on in the party. However, local bodies are shaken up in the event of this resignation. At least 1,000 members, who are part of the BJP in rural areas, have decided to quit the party.

The first of the reactions from the BJP came from Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok. He said that Yeddyurappa's resignation will have "no impact" on the party.

"He may have built the party over 40 years. But remember the BJP is not a party of individuals; it is a party that belongs to all. There will be no impact. The party will function normally," he said.

Meanwhile, heavy security arrangements are in place ahead of the mammoth rally to be addressed by Yeddyurappa at Freedom Park. Traffic is being diverted and the police have advised people not to take the roads that lead to the Freedom Park, Chalukya Circle and also Vidhan Soudha.

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