Sulking Yeddyurappa wants to pick successor

The 119 members of the state BJP held separate meetings among themselves through the day,splitting along the fracture lines that exist within the party in a sign that a new dispensation will take some serious gluing.

Supporters of Chief Minister Yeddyurappacomprising 60 mostly Lingayat MLAs and 15 MPsrallied around the beleaguered leader at a breakfast meeting at Yeddyurappas official residence.

A group of around 15 legislators,who were among those disqualified from the BJP for withdrawing support to Yeddyurappa in November 2010 and later reinstated by the Supreme Court,held a meeting of their own under the leadership of Balachandra Jharkiholi at a hotel.

The Reddy brothers group,implicated for illegal mining in their home district of Bellary,also gathered with their support group of around nine MLAs at an apartment to weigh their options. The group is also in touch with possible CM candidates to ensure they are not set adrift by any new dispensation.

Yeddyurappa himself is widely believed to be holding out to ensure one of his candidates replaces him. D V Sadananda Gowda is lobbying the RSS and even nearest rivals like Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa. Yeddyurappa,meanwhile,has also thrown his closest associate Shoba Karandlajes name as a candidate while he himself has sought the party chiefs position.

Though there are fears in the BJP that he may try to split the party if he is not heard,Yeddyurappa has said in a note that he will quit on July 31 at the end of an inauspicious period and the start of an auspicious time.