Yeddy sticks to his guns, crisis continues for BJP in K'taka

With the political crisis in the BJP goverment showing no signs of abating, party leaders in Delhi said they were working on a possible solution even as the Chief Minister said he would not be able to take any action against the ministers supporting the reinstatement of BS Yeddyurappa. “It is purely an internal matter. The party and he are in touch,”  BJP leader Arun Jaitley said in Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_249040” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“MLAs loyal to the Karnataka BJP strongman are lodged in a resort on the city outskirts and appeared in no mood to soften their stand. Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP”] [/caption] “He has been in dialogue with the party. The reason why he was removed no longer exists. The party is in touch with him, I am also in touch with him,” he said. Chief Minister Sadanada Gowda also attempted to put up a brave face and said that all the ministers were at work and he couldn’t restrict MLAs from travelling. When asked whether any action would be taken against the ministers who had gone to the resort, Gowda said, “Whenever there is some turbulence in my functioning as the Chief Minister then I will take action but that has not happened in this case. I am busy with preparing for the budget session.” MLAs loyal to the Karnataka BJP strongman are lodged in a resort on the city outskirts and appeared in no mood to soften their stand. Yeddyurappa is also keen on presenting the budget himself. Yeddyurappa loyalist Beluru Gopalakrishna claimed that as many as 59 MLAs are in their camp and that the number would swell to 70 by today. Gopalakrishna said the party’s central leadership had assured them that Yeddyurappa would be reinstated after he comes clean in an illegal mining case. The BJP had forced Yeddyurappa to quit in July 2011 after he was indicted by the Lokyukta report on illegal mining that had triggered a political storm in the state. Recently, the High Court quashed the charges against him in the report and also the reference made by the Governor to the Lokayukta to file an FIR and investigate them. BJP State President, KS Eshwarappa, told reporters that the state unit would abide by any decision taken by the central leadership. The party’s central leadership was watching the developments, he said, adding, it would decide on Yeddyurappa’s “desire”. BJP’s leadership is reportedly divided on the issue of reinstatement of Yeddyurappa who intensified his power struggle yesterday by claiming support of over half of party MLAs and demanded that the central leadership convene a legislature party meet within 48 hours. “Wait for 48 hours. It is not a deadline. I am sure the party leadership will take a decision”, he had said, apparently indicating that BJP will have to take a call on his demand for reinstating him as chief minister before his successor DV Sadananda Gowda presents his maiden budget on 21 March. The BJP has a strength of 120 legislators, including the Speaker, in the 224-member Assembly. Amid the crisis, Chief Minister Gowda celebrated his 59th birthday on a low-key note yesterday and declared he would present the budget. With inputs from PTI