Told to go, BSY says only on his terms

NEW DELHI: After Ashok Chavan in Maharashtra, allegations of corruption have scalped another chief minister. The BJP top brass on Sunday asked B S Yeddyurappa to quit as Karnataka chief minister, and is determined to enforce the leadership change despite resistance from him.

The chief minister dodged the leadership's directive to come to Delhi and instead sent two of his representatives. However, the leadership was confident that he, with no worthwhile support forthcoming from party MLAs including fellow Lingayats, would fall in line.

The CM is learnt to be insisting that he will resign only if others facing corruption charges, including the controversial mining barons Reddy brothers who stoked dissidence against him, are also made to go. He is also demanding action against senior party leaders who encouraged dissidence against him. The embattled CM put across his terms to RSS leader Jayadev and BJP's M P Kumar who spent four hours trying to persuade him to acquiesce to the inevitable.

The decision to remove the man who led BJP to its maiden victory in a southern state was prompted by the growing pile of corruption charges and by the calculation that he was a drag on the party's strategy to put Congress on the mat over scams. The removal of two ''tainted'' chief ministers shows how concerns over corruption have muscled their way to the frontburner after a long spell when sleaze was seen as a non-issue.

Sources said the party leadership, which had appeared split on the issue, settled on the change after scrutinizing documents concerning the allotment of land to the chief minister's family members and the monetary favours they got from mining firms.

The party was yet to take a decision on B S Yeddyurappa's successor as it was having to consider the fallout of the change among his fellow Lingayats. The single largest community, goaded by the network of Mathas, propelled the party to power largely because of Yeddyurappa. The party has to consider how to hold on to the constituency.

The Lingayat factor may allow Yeddyurappa a say in the choice. It will be interesting to see how he uses the leverage as he may fear that the rise of another man from the community would undercut his pre-eminence.

The names under consideration include those of party MP Sadanand Gowda, a coastal Vokkaliga leader, who is so far free from taint and was BJP state president in Karnataka; Jagdish Shettar, a Lingayat leader like Yeddyurappa, and hence unlikely to be acceptable to the outgoing CM; and V S Acharia, who is considered a capable minister.

That he is a Brahmin can earn him Yeddyurappa's support as the outgoing CM would like to promote him at the expense of his detractor, party general secretary Ananth Kumar. Kumar is also a Brahmin. Suresh Kumar, a minister with an honest image and a Brahmin, is also close to the chief minister. R Ashok, a minister and a young Vokkaliga leader, is also among the probables.

The party leadership is expected to discuss the names on Monday.

Source: Times Of India