BS Yeddyurappa in Delhi, remains defiant

Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa versus BJP high command is turning out to be a game of who blinks first.

Yeddyurappa finally arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening after giving the party leadership some anxious moments, but BJP chief Nitin Gadkari left for Nagpur, keeping the beleaguered chief minister’s fate hanging.

Soon after landing, a defiant Yeddyurappa made it clear that he was not ready to budge even an inch. “Nobody has asked me to resign,” he said, adding that he had come to New Delhi to confabulate with party MPs from Karnataka and nothing else was on agenda.

However, he met senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley late in the night. Gadkari has asked Jaitley to convince the chief minister to put in his papers in view of his alleged involvement in transfer of government land to his kin.

Earlier in the day, Yeddyurappa kept the party leadership guessing about his arrival in New Delhi.

“Nothing can be said till his arrival and meeting with Gadkariji,” a party functionary said, when asked whether Yeddyurappa would resign.

Meanwhile, MLAs supporting Yeddyurappa met senior leaders Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu and protested any possible change of leadership in Karnataka.

“There is no alternative to Yeddyurappa. He will continue to be CM. The BJP high command has not taken any decision,” state education minister VS Acharya, who has been camping in New Delhi, said.