Yeddyurappa rules out quitting over land scam charges

HUBLI/NEW DELHI - Within hours of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deferring a decision on his future, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, hit by allegations of favouring kin with prime land, asserted Saturday he will not quit.

He also told chief ministerial aspirants of his party and those belonging to other parties to wait for another two-and-half-years, when elections to the assembly are due, to realize their aspirations.

“There is nothing wrong in aspiring to be chief minister. But the party came to power under my leadership and it will fight the next elections also under my leadership.

“If after that party leadership decides that someone else should be chief minister, I have no objection,” he told reporters in Hubli in north Karnataka on his arrival from New Delhi.

“I will go back to Delhi Monday for further talks with party leaders and our parliament members,” said Yeddyurappa, who attended a marathon meeting of BJP central leaders that ended in the early hours Saturday in the national capital.

The meeting to decide on the fate of Yeddyurappa started at around 10.30 p.m. Friday and ended after over three hours.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters after the meeting that further talks will be held with central party leaders to arrive at a decision.

Yeddyurappa insisted that he has done no wrong in land allotment to his kin.

He made a blistering attack on the Janata Dal-Secular and its president H.D. Deve Gowda, saying his aim was to root out the BJP from Karnataka.

“Congress and BJP are national parties and both should stay in Karnataka. My fight from now on is against the father and sons (Gowda and his son) and I will ensure they have no address in the state,” Yeddyurappa said.

In Karnataka, the JD-S is made fun of as ‘thande-makkala paksha’ (father and sons party as Gowda is president, one son, H.D. Kumaraswamy is state unit chief and another H.D. Revanna is party leader in the assembly).