Now,BSY fields own man for RS polls

Karnataka BJP Will consider leadership change... but not under pressure,says Gadkari

The maiden BJP government in Karnataka has slipped into free fall again with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa precipitating a rebellion on various fronts in his attempt to depose incumbent chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda.

Trying to hold the BJPs central leadership to its promise of reinstating him as the chief minister if cleared of corruption,Yeddyurappa moved as many as 55 of the 120 BJP MLAs to a private resort,put up his own man. B J Puttaswamy,for the coming Rajya Sabha polls alongside two party choices and rallied 12 party MPs to espouse his cause in New Delhi. All this has put the state Budget Session set to begin Tuesday in grave doubt.

The primary demand of the Yeddyurappa camp is that a meeting of the BJP legislature party should be called immediately in order to depose Gowda,who was picked to be Chief Minister in August last year with the backing of as many as 68 MLAs known to be Yeddyurappa supporters.

We are not blackmailing anybody. We are only asking for the BJP high command to fulfill its promise. There is no arm-twisting in this, said MLA Belur Gopalakrishna,who was among the 55 shepherded by the Yeddyurappa camp to the Golden Palms Resort and Spa on the outskirts of Bangalore late on Sunday night.

While the BJP leadership has refrained from taking a hard stand against Yeddyurappa,it announced late Monday night that Puttaswamy had been suspended from the party.

Party chief Nitin Gadkari said they would definitely think about a leadership change,but would not work under pressure.

After the Karnataka Lokayukta verdict against him,we had suggested that he should resign8230; we had said we would reconsider if a higher court clears him of the charges. The High Courts dismissal of charges against him has silenced our detractors who were making constant allegations, he said.

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I told the delegation of party MPs from Karnataka that the partys core committee,which had taken the decision that Yedyurappa should step down as CM,would have to meet once again and take the stand if he can be reinstated. An earlier decision by a committee can be undone only by the same committee, said Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.

Meanwhile,Gowda said the state budget would be presented,as scheduled,on March 21 and that nobody had asked him to call a meeting of party MLAs. The CM,however,will have to depend on the support of the majority of his 120 party MLAs to see the budget through.

Sources in the Yeddyurappa camp said they were pushed to show their numbers after the BJP leadership seemed to show signs of delaying his reinstatement.

We received an assurance on March 14 that Yeddyurappa would be reinstated and that Sadananda Gowda will be chosen as one of the partys candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls. However till Sunday night,there were no signs of any movement in this direction and Yeddyurappa reacted, sources in the former CMs camp said.

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According to insiders in Yeddyurappas camp,the Lingayat strongman is under pressure from one section of his supporters to become the CM again,while another section wants him to settle for the post of party president so that he is in a position to ensure tickets for his supporters in the next Assembly elections. We are expecting a positive decision from the BJP high command before March 21. The budget session may,however,have to be rescheduled, sources said.