Bharatiya Janata Party rebel leader B.S. Yeddyurappa’s call to his supporters to identify themselves with his proposed political outfit without quitting the BJP is causing confusion in his camp.
The prominent ministerial supporters of his camp are said to be in a dilemma over whether to follow him as soon as he joins the new outfit — the Karnataka Janata Paksha — on December 10, or wait.
This was evident at a meeting of Ministers from his camp held at the residence of Public Works Minister C.M. Udasi in Bangalore on Friday. According to sources, the Ministers clearly told him that they would have to quit the BJP to join him and his new party. If that were the case, they would earn the wrath of voters from north Karnataka as well as the Lingayat community for toppling the government headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, a Lingayat leader from north Karnataka.
However, identifying themselves with his new outfit without quitting the BJP would be odd and could result in their wings being clipped in the government, they felt.
Sources said they told him that the legislators from their camp were also in a similar dilemma as they wanted to complete their full-term in the BJP. At the same time, all the prominent members of the camp made it clear to Mr. Yeddyurappa that they would remain loyal to him. There was speculation that some Ministers wanted him to either reconsider or put off the decision to join the new party as senior Congress leader S.M. Krishna is coming to Karnataka to lead the Opposition Congress. But, Mr. Yeddyurappa made it clear that he would not alter his decision to join the new party on December 10.
