The nine Ministers from the Yeddyurappa camp who resigned on Friday to bring pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party to replace Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda relented and withdrew their resignations on Monday following stern instructions from the party high command.
Firm stand
The high command is learnt to have made it clear to them that it would not hold consultations on their demand if they did not withdraw their resignations.
The withdrawal of the resignations has paved the way for the high command to begin consultations with the Yeddyurappa faction. According to sources in the party’s State unit, the central leaders are expected to take a call on their demand for leadership change by this weekend.
“Earlier, the central leadership had decided to examine their demand only after the Presidential polls. But, now it wants to put an end to the political uncertainty by taking a decision perhaps by this weekend on whether to keep D.V. Sadananda Gowda as Chief Minister or replace him with Jagadish Shettar,” sources said.
Meanwhile, the scene has shifted to Delhi with Ministers from the Yeddyurappa camp, who withdrew their resignations, going to the Capital to attend the wedding reception of party president Nitin Gadkari’s son on Monday night and also to meet central leaders for consultations. While Mr. Sadananda Gowda went to Delhi to take part in a meeting of NDA Chief Ministers, State party president K.S. Eshwarappa has gone to the national capital to attend the wedding reception and hold talks with central leaders.
Before leaving for Delhi, the Chief Minister said he would abide by the decision taken by the high command on the leadership issue.
“I will follow any instructions given by the high command in this regard. I had said this before taking oath as Chief Minister and am reiterating it now.”
Dig at detractors
At the same time, he took an indirect dig at his detractors. “People of the State will reject us permanently if we indulge in selfish politics at a time when the State is reeling under a serious drought. The need of the hour is to focus on drought relief,” he said.
