Defiant Yeddyurappa refuses to step down, claims majority support within party

Agencies

Bangalore, 30 July 2011:  The ‘game of defiance’ played to the hilt by tainted chief minister B S Yeddyurappa put the BJP high command on the mat again on Friday. He refused to step down, stating he enjoyed the majority support within the party. Yeddyurappa’s stubbornness is but natural, but the million-dollar question is: Why do the BJP national leaders find it difficult to check Yeddyurappa?

 

While the common perception is that Yeddyurappa derives his strength from the dominant Lingayat community, which he hails from, and claims he has the winning formula to bring back the party to power (in the event of a mid-term election), a close confidant of the CM said that the real answer to the question is a question itself: Where did the illegal mining money go?

 

Friday was Yeddyurappa’s day in command. Thursday morning’s bravado statement by the BJP high command — that he has to step down immediately — had seemed to put the chief minister on the backfoot. But on Friday he stormed back at the party bosses, seemingly holding all the aces.

National observers — Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh — were earlier scheduled to take part in the BJP legislature party meeting in the state to arrive at a consensus for the next chief minister. Instead, they were closeted for most part of the day with the man in the dock himself at his residence. Insiders say that he was dictating the terms, in fact to the extent of daring the high command to take action against him.

 

The Reddy-brothers, the money-bags from Bellary who too were instrumental in the BJP forming its first government in South India, have also aligned with Yeddyurappa for now, categorically rejecting the Lokayukta’s report.

 

On Friday, the Congress fired a salvo to this effect when its spokesperson, Manish Tewari, said in New Delhi, “The question is not that Yeddyurappa is the Kaveri of corruption. The question is why is he still occupying the post of chief minister? The reason that comes to mind is that when poisonous fruit of illegal mining was chopped in Karnataka, it was distributed equally at the top in BJP.”