The Bharatiya Janata Party national leadership is learnt to have decided to put an end by next week to the uncertainty over the leadership issue in Karnataka that has arisen in the wake of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa making a strong demand for reinstatement as Chief Minister.
According to sources in the BJP, the party national core committee is likely to meet early next week to take a call on Mr. Yeddyurappa's demand.
The party high command is learnt to be concerned over the fact that the party's image is getting sullied in Karnataka owing to the delay in ending the uncertainty.
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To help the core committee get crucial inputs on specific issues, BJP general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in charge of Karnataka, arrived in Bangalore on Saturday night to hold consultations with top leaders of the State.
The sources said he would hold only “informal” discussions and meet only around 10 leaders, who are in Bangalore.
“He will be discussing the various options before the party with respect to Mr. Yeddyurappa's demands. The main intention is to assess the nature of impact on the party if each of these different options were tried out,” the sources noted.
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Though the Supreme Court and the Central Empowered Committee too are expected to give their verdicts next week on the two issues related to allegations made against Mr. Yeddyurappa, there are divergent views in the party on the issue.
While Mr. Yeddyurappa camp as well as some of the central leaders who are supporting him are said to be arguing that the party should not wait for the ongoing legal matters to take a call on Mr. Yeddyurappa's demands, some others are of the view that the party should wait to know if the CEC recommends a CBI probe against Mr. Yeddyurappa with respect to the alleged illegal mining.