Defiant Yeddyurappa Refuses to Step Down
NEW DELHI, Nov 23(TOI): BJP leadership was faced with a first-rate political crisis with a defiant Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa refusing to step down and exposing the limits of the authority of the BJP `high command'.
Yeddyurappa, who arrived in the Capital on Monday, batted aside the suggestion that he needed to quit because of the charges against him as his continuation would scupper the party's attempt to corner Congress over the issue of corruptiion.
"It was I who got the mandate," Yeddyurappa is learnt to have told central leaders seeking to cajole him. He also claimed support among party MPs and MLAs. He also said the land scams he has been charged with has been par for the course in Karnataka and, in fact, pales in comparison with what happened under chief ministers of Congress and JD(S).
However, his legal vulnerabilities and the need to have a friendly government in the state may lead him to sue for peace, if not now then after the panchayat elections.
With his supporters dropping not-so-subtle hints of a Lingayat backlash if Yeddyurappa, a leader of the dominant community, was removed, the BJP brass was forced to consider putting off the leadership change till after panchayat polls which are a couple of weeks away.
The party's dilemma arises from the fact that while it can allow Yeddyurappa to continue only at a huge cost to its image, an open revolt will damage its following among Lingayats -- one of the major reasons for its rise to power in the state.
"Nobody has asked me to resign," Yeddyurappa said with a smile on his arrival in Delhi which seemed to reflect nonchalance if not insouciance.
The open revolt seems to be interfering with the BJP's plan to use corruption as a political stick against Congress, rendering it vulnerable to swipes from the Congress that it needs to practice what it is prescribing for others.
The revolt has also brutally exposed that the writ of the so-called high command of the party does not quite extend to party-ruled states.
BJP was faced with a similar situation when its Gujarat leader, Shankersinh Vaghela, rebelled in 1995 against the leadership's attempt to sideline him. Though Vaghela succeeded in splitting the party and went on to become the chief minister, the party prevailed in the long run turning the state into a saffron fortress. Post-Atal Bihari Vajpayee and with L K Advani fading away, threats held out by party leadership hardly strike the fear of Ram among the chief ministers -- from Narendra Modi in Gujarat to Yeddyurappa -- who are behaving more like autonomous satraps.
Attempts to persuade the chief minister were continuing till late in the night, with party general secretary Arun Jaitley inviting him over for dinner.
The coaxing will continue on Tuesday when party chief Nitin Gadkari returns from Nagpur