Bangalore: Reddy '`Amma'  Blames Yeddy for Dissidence
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Nov 18: Senior BJP leader and deputy opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, the publicly acknowledged ``Amma’’ (mother) of the Bellary mining lords, who had waged a relentless battle of dissidence against Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and almost succeeded in unseating him, has indirectly blamed the latter for the political turmoil.

``The entire political crisis is not only unfortunate but has put all of us to shame,’’ she said briefing the media after attending an all important meeting of the core committee, which was constituted following her ``successful’’ intervention to broker peace between the two warring factions.

Swaraj, who is considered quite close to the Bellary Reddy Brothers comprising tourism and infrastructure minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, revenue minister Gali Karunakara Reddy and their close confidant in health minister B Sriramulu and their supporters, said the chief minister ``needs to communicate better and take everybody into confidence.’’

 Yeddyurappa had to axe his protégé and rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje from the cabinet and shunt his principal secretary V P Baligar and replace him with a low-profile officer I S N Prasad besides revoking the suspensions of almost officers as the price to continue in office. The state assembly speaker Jagadish Shettary, who hails from north Karnataka region and had turned out to be the rallying point for the Bellary Reddy Brothers and their other dissident legislators, had to be inducted into the cabinet after his resignation to the post held by him.

The core committee constituted by the party high command as the solution for resolving the political crisis and enabling the chief minister to continue in office was followed by a meeting of the ruling BJP legislature party meeting. The core committee meeting was attended by senior BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitely, who incidentally was sent as the first emissary by the party high command to patch up the differences between the two sides. BJP national general secretary and former union minister Ananth Kumar, who is an MP from Bangalore, also participated in the meeting.

``The party has emerged stronger after the crisis,’’ Ms Swaraj, who was instrumental in defusing the crisis, mentioned: ``We have learnt many lessons. The main lesson is that most of the problems and the root cause for the crisis is lack of dialogue. The chief minister has to be more and more communicative.’’.
The chief minister has promised to ensure that he will facilitate more and more effective dialogue within the party, the government and his office. ``The chief minister has promised to change his style of functioning to take everybody into confidence and take them along,’’ she said pointing out that the core committee would be meeting every month and take stock of the situation and prevent recurrence of trouble.

``The chief minister assured us on this count and all the other leaders have promised their support,’’ she said pointing out that crisis will be forgotten as a bad dream.

 Yeddyurappa, on his part, told reporters after the BJP legislature party meeting and the core committee meeting that both meetings were ``successful’’ and had strengthened the party. ``I am sure this exercise will help the government. The focus of the government will now be development and development,’’ he declared.

Meanwhile, Venkaiah Naidu said there was nothing wrong in the core committee meeting. ``This is a set-up that exists in other BJP ruled states. It is provided in the party constitution. There was a slight delay in the constitution of the committee,’’ he said.

The 14-member core committee comprises of Yeddyurappa’s staunch followers Dr V S Acharya, Visveswara Hegde Kageri, S Suresh Kumar and Basavaraj Bommai as well as R Ashok and Katta Subramanya Naidu besides state BJP president D V Sadananda Gowda. Though Ananth Kumar, Jagadish Shettar, K S Eshwarappa and Gali Karunakara Reddy are also among the members of the core committee, the chief minister can take comfort from the fact he is not totally without supporters to defend and even espouse his cause. The two RSS functionaries – V Satish and Santosh – can never be taken for granted and can even be expected to support Yeddyurappa as long as he continues to remain in their good books.