BS Yeddyurappa will be king: Shobha Karandlaje

Former chief minister and president of Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) BS Yeddyurappa will be the king and not the king-maker, said former minister and KJP leader Shobha Karandlaje.

Participating in an interactive programme organised by the Press Club and Reporters’ Guild here on Tuesday, Shobha said Yeddyurappa was responsible for making HD Kumaraswamy, DV Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar chief ministers. Stating that the KJP will become the single largest party after the assembly elections, she said the party is yet to decide whether to tie-up with other political parties. “We have decided not to initiate talks with any political party till the assembly election results are announced,’’ she said.

On shifting from Yeshwanthpur to Rajajinagar, she said that the division among the party workers had compelled her to shift to Rajajinagar.

When asked about chief minister Jagadish Shettar’s allegation that KJP had struck an understanding with the Congress, she said the BJP might be having a tacit agreement with the JD(S) but the KJP has no tie-up with the Congress. She also recalled how the then BJP president Nitin Gadkari promised to make Yeddyurappa the BJP state unit president within 24 hours and later failed to honour his commitment. “I made 13 trips to Delhi to meet the BJP national leaders requesting them to make Yeddyurappa the BJP state unit president but in vain,’’ she said.

According to her, the KJP has fielded candidates in 210 assembly constituencies and among them, 13 are from minority communities, three are Christians, 13 are women and 35 are from SC/ST communities. “The KJP will try to play an active role in forming third front at the national level,’’ she said. When asked about former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s role in the third front, she said: “It has to be decided by the leaders of political parties intended to be partners of the third front.”