As the crisis in the BJP’s Karnataka unit reached yet another flash-point on Friday with as many as nine Ministers owing loyalty to the former Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, putting in their papers, the party high command seems to have taken a decision not to succumb to pressure at any cost.
Party sources here wondered why Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda should be replaced with Mr. Yeddyurappa loyalist Mr. Jagadish Shettar, as his performance in the last one year had been only “satisfactory,” and the Assembly elections were not far off either (due in early 2013).
Succumbing to the pressure of Mr. Yeddyurappa, who had been asked by the party leadership to come clean in the corruption cases against him, would only send a bad signal to the general public and give another chance to the Congress to take on the party.
A senior leader referred to the resignation of Union Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises Vir Bhadra Singh from the Cabinet after a corruption case was filed against him by the Himachal government for alleged corruption about 23 years ago during his tenure as Chief Minister. “When this is the situation in the opposite camp, how can anyone compromise on corruption charges?” he asked.
While the BJP’s trouble-shooter Arun Jaitley was confident that everything would end on a happy note, party general secretary in charge of Karnataka Dharmendra Pradhan was asked to co-ordinate with the Yeddyurappa camp to resolve the crisis.
Sources said Mr. Pradhan had been speaking to Mr. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Jagadish Shettar and Chief Minister Gowda to put an end to the leadership change issue at least till the conclusion of the Presidential/Vice-Presidential poll.
