Karnataka crisis 99 percent over: BJP spokesperson

PANAJI - The Karnataka crisis is almost 99 percent solved and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders would make a joint statement to the media Saturday morning, a party spokesperson said Friday night.

Speaking to reporters outside the five star resort in which the 14 dissenting Karnataka legislators are camped, north Goa BJP MP Shripad Naik said: The crisis is almost over. The issues are almost 99 percent settled.

The former state president of the BJP also said that three of the partys legislators who had been dropped as ministers by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa earlier, would be reinstated as ministers as part of the “arrangements” worked out during negotiations.

An independent legislator who had been demanding a ministerial berth will also be accommodated in the ministry, Naik said, without disclosing any names.

Naik said both the BJP and the dissenting group of legislators would be holding a joint press conference Saturday morning.

Earlier in the day, Janata Dal-Secular leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was camped in the five star resort in south Goa since Thursday, expressed confidence that Yeddyurappas government would not last the Monday trust vote.

Just wait till then. You will realise. All the dissenting MLAs are together and they are united,” Kumaraswamy told reporters, before heading for Bengaluru in the afternoon.

The JD-S leader also refused to reply to questions on whether his party would support a Congress-led government in Karnataka in the near future.

Kumaraswamy also termed as false the allegations by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa about him indulging in horse-trading. “You will realise soon who is doing horse-trading,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Manohar Parrikar, BJPs emissary who is engaged in dialogue with the rebels, described the crisis as a dispute within the party.

–Indo Asian News Service