Yeddyurappa WILL NOT give up so easily

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's followers spoke up for him before the Bharatiya Janata Party's high command on Friday morning.

Now, they have decided to take on the report on illegal mining by Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde that indicts the CM and his family.

Yeddyurappa's supporters have raised the following questions about the report:

• Why is former chief minister Dharam Singh's name missing from the report when he was named in the first one?
• Why doesn't the Lokayukta recommend the prosecution of Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy even after he has been named in the report?
• Why does Hegde target only the chief minister? Why has the high command taken such a decision without consulting the state legislators?

Reportage: Vicky Nanjappa

But these may be attempts by Yeddyurappa to negotiate a bargain on his way out.

Supporters of the former chief minister have questioned senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh about the party high command's decision against Yeddyurappa, in spite of the report being 'biased' against him.

According to BJP sources, these pressure tactics will not change the party leadership's decision about Yeddyurappa.

The chief minister will fight it out till the last date and he has insisted that the high command has to take him into confidence when they choose his successor.

Yeddyurappa and his followers fear that the BJP top brass will choose a candidate against his wishes for the CM's post.

Though Yeddyurappa has agreed to resign on July 31, he will drag the issue till party leaders agree to two of his demands.

Yeddyurappa not only wants to choose his successor, he also wants to be appointed as the president of the state unit of the party.

Jaitley and Singh, who are in Bengaluru currently to choose Yeddyurappa's successor, are unlikely to do so on Friday. They need to consult all the state BJP legislators on the issue and quite a few of them are currently out of town.

They may also have to face a rebellion by the followers of Yeddyurappa.