Yeddyurappa’s KJP to adopt resolution to welcome Modi as BJP’s PM candidate

The committee,however,may not adopt any resolution on Yeddyurappa and supporters rejoining the BJP.

Related:Stage set for BSY re-entry

“The issue of merger will be discussed only after a formal invitation is received from the BJP,” sources close to the Lingayat leader said. While the Yeddyurappa camp claims it has not set conditions to rejoin the BJP,a faction in his former party is said to be opposed to seat-sharing before a merger.

Modi’s elevation should have come earlier: BSY

Meanwhile,BJP sources said the return of Yeddyurappa before Modi’s visit to Karnataka will be on the agenda of a party core committee meeting Thursday.

A three-member team of BJP legislators from the state,including former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda,had discussed the merger with Modi in Ahmedabad on September 2.

Yeddyurappa supporters in BJP have been trying to bring the leader of Lingayats,the largest community in Karnataka,back ever since the party suffered a big loss in state Assembly polls in May this year.

A section in BJP believes Yeddyurappa’s return is crucial if the party has to perform well in the 2014 elections in Karnataka,which has 28 Lok Sabha seats. By most accounts,the return of Yeddyurappa to the BJP is only a question of time. “It will happen by Dussehra,” his close aide said.

“There are some technical issues. The six MLAs of the KJP have to join the BJP. That will be done in time,’’ BJP sources said.

The other,bigger hurdles in the merger,are seat-sharing and the fear in a BJP section that the Yeddyurappa group will assume control of the party.

“The reason the KJP is not keen on an immediate merger is that Yeddyurappa wants to be sure he will not be treated badly once he rejoins the BJP,’’ sources said. Intermediaries,though,were working to speed up the process,they said.

Over the past few weeks,Yeddyurappa has held meetings with many BJP leaders,including his arch rival from home district Shimoga K S Eshwarappa.

Yeddyurappa quit the BJP in December 2012 after the party forced him out of power in 2011 following corruption charges in a report of the Karnataka Lokayukta.