Yeddyurappa will stay, Shobha may be dropped

November 07, 2009 01:50 am | Updated November 17, 2021 06:43 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa on his way to meet  L.K. Advani in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa on his way to meet L.K. Advani in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Bharatiya Janata Party has managed to work out a “deal” that allows Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to keep his chair in Karnataka but not before he was forced to submit to the demands of the Reddy brothers, including the dropping of Rural Development Minister Shobha Karandlaje and the “inclusion” of Speaker Jagadish Shettar in a “befitting” Cabinet position, possibly Home.

Mr. Shettar was the man the Reddys – G. Janardhana and G. Karunakara – were trying to promote as a “good” replacement for Mr. Yeddyurappa.

The details of the “deal” were discussed and agreed upon at a meeting at the residence of Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani on Friday evening. BJP president Rajnath Singh was present, as were party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Later Mr. Yeddyurappa joined them and agreed to all the “suggestions” of the high command.

The “deal” is expected to be announced formally on Saturday. For the moment, the Chief Minister has been asked to stay put in the capital even as Mr. Janardhana Reddy went to Hyderabad to “consult” the MLAs who were supporting his demand for the ouster of Mr. Yeddyurappa. Reports of resignation by some MLAs were dismissed by BJP leaders as “just pressure tactics.”

Party sources disclosed the “formula” that has been worked out: one, the Reddy brothers drop their demand for the replacement of Mr. Yeddyurappa; two, the Chief Minister, in turn, has agreed to the transfer of several officials, including his Principal Secretary V.P. Baligar. The transfer order was issued even before the “deal” was struck to establish his intention of going through with what he had promised. Mr. Yeddyurappa himself told journalists that the transfer of Mr. Baligar was the “first step” towards resolving the problems that had arisen between him and the Reddy brothers.

The other decisions include the rolling back of a proposal to impose a toll of Rs. 1,000 per “iron ore-laden truck,” party sources said. Since the Reddy brothers’ main business is iron ore mining in and around Bellary district, the toll would have directly impacted them.

The first sign of the agreement became available in the morning after the Reddys agreed to drop their insistence on Mr. Yeddyurappa’s ouster but not before some senior leaders warned them not to overreach themselves as they could meet the fate of the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, now facing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate.

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