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Ex-CM rejects feelers from Gadkari

B S Yeddyurappa on Monday spurned conciliatory feelers from the party leadership, and sent a representation signed by about 62 MLAs to party president Nitin Gadkari seeking an emergency meeting of the BJP legislature party to re-elect him its leader.

The representation was faxed to Gadkari’s office within hours of the former chief minister reportedly rejecting an offer from Gadkari for a one-to-one meeting in Nagpur.
Yeddyurappa is learnt to have told Gadkari that “in case any discussion on the issue was required”, he would visit Nagpur along with his supporters. The Yeddyurappa camp would not release to the media names of signatories to the representation.

Yeddyurappa continued his defiance of the party leadership despite Gadkari making mollifying noises in Mumbai. Gadkari told the media in Mumbai: “The BJP is discussing leadership change and I’d told him the same. We are in touch with him and we have told him that he should be patient and cooperate with the party.”

Despite such feelers, in yet another aggressive move, Yeddyurappa fielded his close associate B J Puttaswamy for the ensuing biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha. A seething state BJP leadership suspended Puttaswamy from the primary leadership of the party

Yeddyurappa’s relentless pressure seems to have rattled the party’s central leadership which is contemplating convening a meeting of the core committee of the party on Wednesday to deal with the crisis. In response to the former chief minister’s harangue that he be reinstated, citing the High Court quashing FIR filed against in the Lokayukta mining report, most leaders are said to be either neutral or in favour of his return to the CM’s post.

Party sources said veteran L K Advani’s was the lone dissenting voice.
Yeddyurappa is trying to drive a hard bargain with the party central leadership by getting the support of more than half of the party legislators  in writing. At the same time, Yeddyurappa’s loyalists are also planning to stay away from the day one of the budget session scheduled to commence on Monday. The deadline set by Yeddyurappa to the central leadership ends on Tuesday evening.

In an attempt to deflect the pressure exerted by B S Yeddyurappa to reinstate him, the BJP leadership is likely to convene a meeting of its core committee on Wednesday to discuss the crisis arising out the former chief minister’s demand.

The core committee would be held once party president Nitin Gadkari returned to the capital on Wednesday from Maharashtra. At the meeting, senior leaders would discuss the pros and cons of the action if Yeddyurappa was made chief minister again. Also, issues like the Lingayat  leader fielding a rebel candidate –  B J Puttaswamy – as a party candidate in the Rajya Sabha candidate would come up. A section of the party is arguing that the leadership should consider the cases against Yeddyurappa were still pending in Supreme Court.

Party president Nitin Gadkari, who in Mumbai, asked Yeddyurappa to exercise restraint, is said to have told party senior Arun Jaitley to sort out the issue. The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha is, sources said, in constant touch with the former chief minister. Another party veteran Murli Manoha Joshi is said to have expressed his opinion that Yeddyurappa should have been brought back once the Karnataka high court gave its verdict absolving him.

Replying to a question, Gadkari told the Media in Mumbai: “Discussion is on. We will decide appropriately and soon. But we won’t take any decision under pressure. We are in touch with him and we have told him that he should be patient and cooperate with the party.”

Gadkari also hinted that the party leaders have also assured the angry ousted chief minister that he would be “reinstated if cleared of corruption charges by the court,” adding, “We believe that the charges against him do not stand.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,Party senior leader Sushma Swaraj, speaking to reporters after a 12-member pro-Yeddyurappa group of MPs form Karnataka met her on Monday, said: “I told the MPs that only that party forum which asked Yeddyurappa to step down can now decide on whether he should be reinstated. The Core Group had made this decision and it will have to meet again if this decision has to be reconsidered.”

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