BJP struggles to solve Karnataka impasse

New Delhi/Bangalore, Nov 3 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday struggled to end the nine-day old crisis in Karnataka where rebel ministers insisted on removal of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, ignoring party chief Rajnath Singh's assertion that there would be no leadership change in the state.

Singh and senior leader Sushma Swaraj indicated, after day-long discussion in New Delhi, that solution to the turmoil was not in sight.

Singh appeared irritable when reporters asked him whether Yeddyurappa would continue as chief minister.

"How many times the same question?" he shot back as he got into his car.

When asked about leadership change and whether a solution has been found, Swaraj said: "Talks are on, not reached that stage".

Yeddyurappa sent out contradictory signals while talking to reporters in Bellary, stronghold of state Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, who are leading the rebellion against him.

The Reddy brothers are mining barons in Bellary, which is rich in iron ore and is 400 km from Bangalore. Yeddyruappa hoped the crisis would be resolved in a day or two as the BJP leadership was talking to the Reddys.

He blamed assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar, propped up by the Reddy brothers and supporters as an alternative leader, for the crisis simply because he was not made a minister. Shettar holds Yeddyurappa responsible for depriving him of a political post.

Janardhana Reddy in New Delhi and Karunakara Reddy in Bangalore dismissed talk of the party favouring Yeddyurappa continuing as chief minister.

"It is media creation," Karunakara Reddy said when asked whether there was any change in their stand since Rajnath Singh had said Yedyurappa would 'definitely' continue as the chief minister.

"The central leadership has not given us any such indication," he asserted.

Janardhana Reddy also maintained the same stand after talking to senior leader Sushma Swaraj, considered close to the Reddy brothers as they joined the BJP just ahead of the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and canvassed for her when she took on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Bellary.

Yeddyurappa continued to talk tough. "There is no need for me to get a certificate on the work I am doing," he said, clearly in response to Reddy brothers' repeated statements that the state BJP needed 'good leadership' if it wanted to continue to be in power in Karnataka.

The chief minister said he would visit Delhi Nov 5-6 to meet party central leaders and also Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over central funds for the rehabilitation of the flood hit in north Karnataka.

While Yeddyurappa Tuesday toured north Karnataka and participated in foundation stone laying ceremonies at several places for relocation of flood-prone villages, Karunakara Reddy, as Revenue Minister, held a video conference in Bangalore with senior officials of 12 affected districts to review the rehab work.

In related developments, Energy Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who has also been unhappy with Yeddyurappa, left for Delhi to meet central leaders.

"There is problem in the party. We will impress on our central leaders the need for an early solution," he said at the airport. He is accompanied by party legislator and spokesperson C.T. Ravi.

A large number of legislators supporting the Reddy brothers and staying in a star hotel in Hyderabad for the last one week also plan to visit Delhi in the next two days if the crisis persists.

The two opposition parties, the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular, have stayed aloof though strongly attacking the ruling party for ignoring the plight of the flood hit and indulging in power games.

The Reddy brothers have sought Yeddyurappa's removal on the ground that he is dictatorial, does not give them free hand to run the ministries, does not consult them on posting of officials, and allows his favourites to interfere in the functioning of others' ministries.

The Reddy brothers are upset that their younger sibling G. Somashekara Reddy, a legislator, has been slapped with a case of kidnapping in mid-October. They want the case to be dropped.