BJP top brass discuss Karnataka developments

NEW DELHI/BANGALORE - Top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday evening held a meeting in New Delhi, the second in the day, over the developments in Karnataka where Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is facing allegations of allotment of land to his kin.

Senior leader L.K. Advani presided over the meeting held at his residence, party sources told IANS.

Yeddyurappa and party president Nitin Gadkari were also scheduled to arrive in New Delhi late Thursday night, they said.

The meeting was attended by BJP vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Leader of Oppostion in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley among others.

Earlier in Bangalore, the Karnataka state cabinet decided on a probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into land deals in and around Bangalore in the past 10 years following allegations of favoured land allotment by Yeddyurappa to his kin.

“The name of the judge and the terms of reference will be announced later,” Karnataka Education Minister Vishwanath Hegde Kageri told reporters after the cabinet meeting.