Yeddyurappa in Delhi for talks on his future

NEW DELHI/BANGALORE - Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, under pressure to quit over allegations of favoured land allotment to relatives, arrived in the national capital Monday evening for more talks with the leadership of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on his future.

Yeddyurappa is expected to meet BJP chief Nitin Gadkari who has been authorised by senior party leaders to take a final decision on his continuation.

The chief minister’s loyalists Monday met Gadkari and senior leaders Arun Jaitley and M. Venkaiah Naidu to oppose his removal, particularly as the party has to face district level elections in December.

V.S. Acharya, higher education minister and a Yeddyurappa confidant, said after meeting Gadkari, Jaitley and Naidu that no decision had been taken to replace the chief minister.

He denied reports that BJP had given a deadline to Yeddyurappa to quit and he had disobeyed it. “No deadline was set and hence the disobedience does not arise.”

Transport and Home Minister R. Ashoka, who also met Gadkari, added: “We have given all details to Gadkari. Our leaders will again talk to Yeddyurappa and the matter will be clear by tomorrow (Tuesday).”

In Bangalore, heads of three maths (religious institutions) of the Lingayat community, to which Yeddyurappa belongs, came out openly in his support.

His removal, they said at a joint press conference, will be seen as an assault on the Lingayat community and the BJP will pay heavily for it.

Vishweshatirtha Swami of Pejavar Math in Udupi in coastal Karnataka told Kannada TV channels that he was against taking any action against Yeddyurappa without guilt being proved.

Vishweshatirtha is a Brahmin and is known to be close to several BJP central leaders and was an active advisor to the party during the height of its agitation for a temple dedicated to Lord Ram in Ayodhya.