In an apparent bid to reject criticism that he wants to rule by proxy by installing D V Sadananda Gowda as his successor, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday asserted he did not want to become “a super CM”.
“I don’t want to become a super CM”, he told reporters here as the race for the Chief Minister’s post hotter up ahead of the BJP legislative party meeting slated here tomorrow.
Mr. Yeddyurappa, who resigned from the post, said he would “obey the orders” of the party and leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and (party President) Nitin Gadkari, “who are going to guide us.” As the BJP grapples with the crisis over the successor issue, it appeared that it would be a straight contest between Mr. Yeddyurappa’s nominee Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, being propped up by the rival camp led by party national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar and state BJP Chief K S Eshwarappa.
Mr. Yeddyurappa resigned on Sunday in the wake of Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicting him after much defiance and his exit has led the BJP to another crisis as party leaders try to find a successor with the state unit badly divided.
“I am going to tour the State for the welfare of the people, and I don’t have any personal agenda”, Mr. Yeddyurappa said.
Informing that central observers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh would arrive here this evening, he said: “Most probably... unanimously... our leader will be selected (tomorrow), and from day after tomorrow, we will only concentrate on the development of the State.”
Mr. Yeddyurappa’s comment - that he does not want to become a super CM - comes in the wake of a section of the rival side trying to project that Mr. Gowda would be his “puppet” and that Mr. Yeddyurappa would pull the strings.
