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Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009
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BJP dissidents show no sign of yielding

Neena Vyas & J. Balaji

Janardhan Reddy insists 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. Janardhan 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 the dissidents seemed to harden their stance.

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 central leadership 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.

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.

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.

Yeddyurappa confident

Special Correspondent reports from Bangalore:

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy took diametrically opposing positions on the crisis in Bangalore. While Mr. Yeddyurappa expressed confidence that the political crisis in the State would be sorted out in a few days, Mr. Reddy said that nothing short of leadership change would be acceptable to his faction.

“Leave alone the Bellary ministers, I am ready to talk to all the legislators. We are all in one party. There are some differences, and my effort will be to sort them out. I will be meeting the central leaders of the BJP on Thursday,” Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

On the Reddy faction’s demand to remove some ministers from the Cabinet and transfer some top government officials, the Chief Minister said, “Let it be clear that the transfer and posting of senior officials is the prerogative of the Chief Minister. I stand by my decision. I will discuss such matters with the party high command.”

On whether disciplinary action was being contemplated against legislators from flood-affected areas who were not in their constituencies, Mr. Yeddyurappa said, “Let the people decide on whether they want such representatives.”

No decision yet

Mr. Reddy, however, termed media reports quoting the BJP president as saying that Mr. Yeddyurappa would continue as “lies and creation of the media”.

Asked whether they would be ready for a compromise if some Ministers were dropped, but without a change of leadership, he said, “That question does not arise. We will spell out our stand after the party high command announces its decision.”

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