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Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009
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Karnataka rebels harden stance

Neena Vyas & J. Balaji

‘Yeddyurappa should be replaced’

NEW DELHI: There was no immediate solution in sight to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s troubles in Karnataka despite several round of talks here on Tuesday between senior party leader Sushma Swaraj and one of the Reddy brothers — Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy — who made it clear that he will not return to the State without the party agreeing to replace Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

In fact, some of the optimism displayed on Monday by BJP leaders regarding an early end to the standoff evaporated on Tuesday when there seemed to be a hardening of the stance by the dissidents. Mr. Reddy came out of a second round of talks with Ms. Swaraj to tell journalists: “We are confident of achieving our goal soon. There is no question of going back on our demand. I will remain in Delhi till I get the party High Command to agree to replace Mr. Yeddyurappa with a good leader in the interests of the party as well as the State.” Their position had been clearly conveyed to party president Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and all the party seniors here.

MLAs to reach Delhi

Mr. Reddy said that on Wednesday a number of MLAs seeking the ouster of Mr. Yeddyurappa would arrive in the Capital to meet the party leaders. He denied that flood-relief works in Karnataka were affected due to the stalemate created by them. Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, his elder brother, was fully involved in the relief works and on Tuesday too he held meetings with deputy commissioners through video conferencing to discuss about the progress.

The BJP leadership has apparently not been able to satisfy the dissidents that some of their other major demands would be met. These included roll-back of some recent transfers of officials in Bellary and asking Rural Development Minister Shobha Karandlaje to keep her hands off Bellary affairs.

While the State government claimed that the flood-relief works were not affected, the Congress, the main Opposition party in Karnataka, complained of slackness in the work.

A delegation of the Karnataka Congress Committee led by its president R.V. Deshpande met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and demanded, among other things, speedy assistance from the Centre and complained about the tardy pace of relief measures by the BJP government.

Meanwhile, Union Law Minister and Congress general secretary M. Veerappa Moily told The Hindu from Bangalore that the Congress was not interested in forming a government in Karnataka even if some BJP MLAs led by the Reddy brothers split from the party and agreed to join hands with his party.

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