Crisis in Karnataka BJP ministry enters second week

Bangalore, Nov 2 : The turmoil in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first ministry in Karnataka entered the second week Monday as conspiracy theories floated, apologies were tendered and meetings held at several places in a bid to find a solution.

It was a week ago that the first signs of rebellion against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa by a few ministers and legislators became public. In 24 hours, it had become a full blown crisis.

Billionaire iron ore mine owners, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy and their loyalist and Health Minister B. Sriramulu demanded Yeddyurappa's ouster, only 18 months after he became the chief minister.

To save the government in what BJP proudly proclaims as its gateway to rule south India, senior leader Arun Jaitley landed in Bangalore Wednesday.

He failed to bring the rival camps together despite three days of talks. He left for New Delhi Friday to seek other senior leaders' help to end the mess.

As Yeddyurappa's supporters and the Reddys and their supporters were in the national capital meeting the central leaders, stories began floating in Bangalore that veteran party leader from Karnataka H.N. Ananth Kumar was the brain behind the Reddys revolt against his long time political rival Yeddyurqappa.

Yeddyurappa rushed to rubbish the speculation and defended Ananth Kumar saying he was playing a major role in resolving the crisis.

"Unnecessarily his name is being dragged and linked to the Reddys. He is taking the lead to resolve the crisis," the chief minister told reporters in Bellary, the home district of the Reddy brothers, 400 km from here.

Another party veteran and former union minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar, now the state government's special representative in Delhi, also denied that Ananth Kumar was the source of the trouble.

Yeddyurappa also apologized to the people of the state because several legislators supporting the Reddys are reportedly having a ball at a luxury hotel in Hyderabad.

Most of these legislators are from north Karnataka where more than a million people have been left homeless by the Sep 30-Oct 2 rain and floods that caused widespread destruction.

"As chief minister I apologise to the people," Yeddyurappa said here in the wake of reports that most of the north Karnataka legislators were in Hyderabad as part of the Reddys plan to keep their supporters in a safe hideout.

Yeddyurappa said, hoping that the crisis in his ministry would be resolved in a day or two.

Energy minister K. S. Eshwarappa, a former state BJP president, said in his and Yeddyurappa's home district Shimoga, about 280 kms from, he regretted the developments in the ministry at a time when large number of people were affected by floods.

It is not only Yeddyurappa and other ministers who are apologizing to the people.

The Reddy brothers also have been tendering apology to the people for the crisis. However they blame Yeddyurappa for it and say they would not allow this to hinder flood relief in Bellary and other districts.

--IANS