New Delhi/Bangalore: The festering crisis in
ruling BJP in Karnataka remained unresolved on Saturday and the
party central leadership was working overtime to thrash out a
formula that will include changes in the cabinet but
rebellious Reddy brothers continued to be unrelenting.
Under the formula being worked out during confabulations
among BJP leaders late tonight, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa
would not be changed and none other than Assembly Speaker
Jagdish Shettar, the rallying point of rebels demanding the
ouster of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, would be inducted in
the cabinet.
During the negotiations with the Reddy brothers
Janardhan and Karunakar, the mining magnates of Bellary, the
central leadership is said to have made it clear that there
would also be no Deputy Chief Minister.
Sources said the leadership also conveyed to the
dissidents that nobody else would be dropped from the ministry
after the resignation of Yeddyurappa's trusted minister Shobha
Karandlaje (Rural Development).
"It was also conveyed to the dissident camp that Home
Minister V S Acharya will not be removed", a senior leader,
who is keeping a close watch on the situation, said.
Sources said while the central leadership did not
favour any encouragement to the dissident camps but at the
same time since the majority for BJP in 224-member Karnataka
assembly was thin, they could not be antagonised. BJP has 117
MLAs in the 224 member assembly.
"There are several small demands from the rebel camps.
Most of these are due to the attitude of the Chief Minister.
Some of the MLAs may be disgruntled as they were not
accomodated in the cabinet at the time of government formation
or their grievances not redressed," the senior leader said.
Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa said the crisis has been
"resolved".
However, in Bangalore, Janardhan Reddy maintained there
was no change in the dissidents' stand and expressed the hope
that party central leaders would take a "good" decision in a
day or two.
Yeddyruppa, who made a flying visit to the Vaishnao
Devi temple near Jammu, returned to the national capital for
another round of late evening consultations with senior party
leaders as the dissidents in Bangalore rejected talk of
compromise and stuck to their demand for change of leadership.
Senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after
the late evening discussions with Yeddyurappa and other senior
leaders that there would be no change of leadership and there
would be a "happy conclusion".
He said the Chief Minister has extended his stay in
Delhi by a day to greet senior leader L K Advani on his
birthday tomorrow. He will also meet senior leaders.
"There is no question of working under pressure. But
if questions have been raised by colleagues, they cannot be
brushed aside," Naidu said apparently referring to the demands
of the Reddy brothers and their grievances against the Chief
Minister.
But he declined to go into details of the any
compromise formula. Nor did the Chief Minister saying anything
mentioning that the central leaders have asked him not not to
speak anything political.
Bureau Report