Yeddyurappa sheds tears over his plight

Bangalore, Nov 7 : In a rare instance in Indian politics, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, facing revolt from a few ministers and legislators, Saturday shed tears publicly at his plight, having struggled for decades to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power.

The 66-year-old Yeddyurappa, known for his short temper and as a strict disciplinarian, is at most times stern faced.

But he shocked television viewers Saturday morning as he turned misty eyed answering questions on the demand for his removal by dissidents led by Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, a billionaire iron ore mine owner from Bellary, about 400 km from here.

In a choked voice, he wondered what wrong he had done to find himself in such a situation, particularly when large parts of north Karnataka had been devastated by floods and around a million people were waiting for over a month now for rehabilitation.

"I apologise to the people of the state for this situation," he said.

His 17-month-old government has been paralysed for the 13th day Saturday as Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy and their loyalist and Health Minister B. Sriramulu started the war cry Oct 26.

Dozens of legislators supporting the Reddys are camping in a luxury hotel in Hyderabad for more than a week. A majority are from the flood-hit areas.

Yeddyurappa has been in New Delhi since Wednesday while Janardhana Reddy was in the national capital from Tuesday till Friday.

Yeddyurappa, under pressure from his party central leaders, has agreed to almost all demands of the Reddy brothers, which threatens to leave him as a nominal chief minister.

Apparently, the hopeless situation he is in was too much even for Yeddyurappa, who joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the late 1960s and worked his way up in the BJP. And so he cried -- almost.