Yeddyurappa meets supporters, to meet BJP leadership

BANGALORE/NEW DELHI - Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, hit by allegations of favouring kin with prime land, met his supporters Sunday to discuss ways to impress the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to allow him to stay on in the post.

The chief minister also dropped plans to take several ministers and legislators to New Delhi in a bid to prevent his possible removal over the scam.

“Since the party leadership is with me, we decided it was not necessary for ministers and legislators to go to Delhi with me,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after a meeting with several ministers and lawmakers at his residence.

He is expected reach Delhi Sunday evening though he had said earlier he will go to the national capital Monday.

Yeddyurappa’s meeting with his supporters came as party central leaders met in New Delhi at BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s house to take a decision on ending the raging land row.

Party sources said the meeting was attended by senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi.

BJP sources said a decision on Yeddyruppa’s continuation may be taken before the parliament sitting Monday.

The BJP seems to be keen to end the Karnataka crisis early as it has come in handy for the Congress to hit back at the party, which has stalled parliament demanding a joint parliamentary probe into alleged corruption in allotment of airwaves - the 2G spectrum.

Medical Education Minister A. Ramdas and Shimoga Lok Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath, who were among those at the meeting with Yeddyurappa in Bangalore, asserted that he will remain the chief minister.

“The issue of leadership does not arise at all and this was not discussed,” they said.

Yeddyurappa briefed BJP central leaders Friday about the charges that he had favoured kin with prime lands and freed lands from government control to benefit people who had invested in business ventures of his two sons.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu were present at the meeting late Friday that lasted more than three hours.

From Karnataka besides Yeddyurappa, state unit chief K.S. Eshwarappa, Panchayat Raj minister Jagdish Shettar, a potential candidate for chief minister’s post, and Lok Sabha members H.N. Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda attended.