Yeddyurappa Rejects BJP High Command's Order to Step Down
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore / New Delhi, Jul 28: The Karnataka political scene is expected to take a new turn on Thursday July 28 following the revelation of the explosive Lokayukta report on Illegal mining, which named CM Yeddyurappa and four other ministers of his cabinet.
According to the latest reports reaching Daijiworld from New Delhi, during the three-hour meeting between BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and CM Yeddyurappa which ended around 3 am on Thursday, Gadkari clearly asked Yeddyurappa to step down from the CM's post.
The order is seen as a neccessary step in order to accelarate BJP's anti-corruption campaign at New Delhi, and specially to demand the Prime Minister's resignation in the forthcoming Parliament session, which is due to begin on August 1.
But Yeddyurappa reportedly denied to accept the order to quit and claimed that he had done nothing wrong. The cases mentioned by the Lokayukta report are already in court and he is fighting them, he said.
A close source from BJP says that Yeddyurappa has asked Shobha Karandlaje to be made the next CM in case he is dropped. But Gadkari has refused to accept Yeddyurappa's conditions. An angry Yeddyurappa returned to Bangalore on Thursday morning.
Yeddyurappa who reached Bangalore airport at 9.20 am, is expected to go ahead with his cabinet meeting. The state observer Dharmendra Pradhan is also expected to reach Bangalore on Thursday morning to keep an eye on Yeddyurappa's activities in Bangalore.
Daijiworld has learnt that, high command has reportedly instructed all MLAs and ministers not to attend the meeting called by Yeddyurappa.
In the wake of these new developments, new candidates are emerging for the CM's chair. The front runners are D V Sadanada Gowda, Udupi Lok Sabha member, Dr V S Acharya, MLC and minister in Yeddyurappa cabinet, other ministers like Suresh Kumar and Jagadish Shettar. Even the name of Bangalore MP Ananthkumar is emerging in the political circle.