Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari advised former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is demanding his reinstatement in the chief ministership, to have patience and cooperate with the party leadership, the latter has said he was expecting the high command’s decision at any time and denied that he was “blackmailing” the leadership.
Talking to The Hindu from Bangalore over phone on Monday, the BJP’s Karnataka strongman, who claimed that he was in a resort outside the garden city with 70 MLAs and some ministers, said he had 100 per cent faith and confidence in the party leadership that justice would be done to him in view of clearance of his name in the mining issue.
The BJP has the strength of 120, including the Speaker, in the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
Asked about complaints of some senior leaders of the BJP here that he (Mr. Yeddyurappa) was trying to blackmail and pressurise the leadership to give him the saddle again, he said: “where is the question of blackmail when I have already said that I have confidence on the leadership and abide by whatever decision they take.” He added that Mr. Gadkari and senior leader Arun Jaitley called him up and discussed the issue (on his demands).
Meanwhile, Mr. Yeddyurappa’s son and Shimoga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra, who had a breakfast meeting with 12 BJPs from Karnataka, including two from Rajya Sabha, told The Hindu that they met party senior leader Sushma Swaraj and sought justice for his father.
Since the Karnataka High Court had recently quashed the charges against him (BSY) in the Lokayukta report (on illegal mining) and also the reference made by Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to the Lokayukta to file an FIR and investigate them, it was time Mr. Yeddyurappa was reinstated in the Chief Ministership. He recalled that the party leadership, while removing him from the post during July 2011, had assured him that he would be given back the chief ministership, if he gets his name cleared.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gadkari told journalists in Mumbai that “the party will take an appropriate decision (on Mr. Yeddyurappa's demand) soon. But BJP will not take any decision under pressure.”
Mr. Jaitley said in Ahmedabad that the party was in touch with Mr. Yeddyurappa and hoped the issue, which was purely an internal one, would be resolved soon. He did not think that the subject was a serious one.
Party sources here said, the core committee, which approved the removal of Mr. Yeddyurappa during July 2011 following his indictment by the Lokayuktha report on illegal mining scam, would soon meet and take further decision. “It is for the committee to decide on his demand for reinstatement,” they said.
Besides Mr. Gadkari, senior party leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and H.N. Anantha Kumar are among the committee’s members.
