Bangalore: An Operation Lotus of a different kind is unfolding in the state BJP. The party, which was known for poaching legislators from other parties to prop up its strength, is now seeing its MLAs being poached by its own leaders.
With the party splitting vertically between caretaker Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on one side and the group led by BJP national secretary Ananthkumar, state BJP president KS Eshwarappa and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on the other, the fight for the CM's seat turned fierce on Monday.
As a result, both the groups began to engage in "games" to cobble up support to out-number each other at the BJP legislature party meeting to be held on August 3 to elect Yeddyurappa's successor. Both the groups held a series of meetings throughout the day.
Kumar, Eshwrappa and Shettar held talks with Dharmendra Pradhan, in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka. Immediately after this, Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy also met Pradhan.
Yeddyurappa has the support of over 60 MLAs and he wants his nominee DV Sadananada Gowda be made the next CM. On the other hand, Kumar and company which is said to be backed by a substantial number of MLAs, is desperately trying to drive a wedge in the Yeddyurappa camp so that the fight gets to a photo finish.
Sensing this, Yeddyurappa moved his MLAs to a five star hotel and elsewhere. "All of them are likely to be brought directly to the legislature party meet," sources said.
On the other hand, the anti-Yeddyurappa camp, after unsuccessfully floating the names of Kumar and Eshwarappa, has thrown its weight behind Shettar with the hope of garnering more support particularly from Lingayat legislators.
Comments
0 comment