Talks BJP leaders had with rebels and Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa ended in a deadlock on Thursday. The only progress the leaders made was getting Yeddyurappa to agree to some of the demands of the rebels led by tourism minister Janardhana Reddy.
He agreed to remove rural development minister Shobha Karandlaje and his principal secretary and induct speaker Jagdish Shettar in the cabinet. But he refused to revoke the transfers of officials and lift the Rs1,000 levy on lorries for flood relief.Karandlaje was “ready to quit if it saves the government”.
Sources said the two camps had arrived at an agreement and Reddy had agreed to Yeddyurappa continuing as CM. However, after attending a meeting at BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu’s home, Reddy said, “The feelings of a majority of MLAs have been conveyed to Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar. Hopefully, they will take a decision in the interest of Karnataka and the BJP.” He refused to enter into any dialogue with Yeddyurappa saying, “I’m not going to meet the CM.”
BJP president Rajnath Singh said, “Yeddyurappa will remain chief minister. We’ll resolve the issue soon.” A senior leader said the issue would be resolved “in a day or two”.
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