Karnataka leadership issue proving ticklish for BJP leadership

BJP central leaders are engaged in hectic parleys to finalise a successor to BS Yeddyurappa who finally resigned today as Karnataka Chief Minister after three days of defiance.

After submitting his resignation to Governor HR Bhardwaj, Yeddyurappa, along with his camp's Chief Ministerial nominee DV Sadanada Gowda drove to the hotel where central observers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh have been camping since Friday.

A section of MLAs, led by state unit president KS Eshwarappa, is believed to be opposing candidature of Gowda, a former state unit president of the party and put forth names of HN Ananth Kumar or senior party leader Jagadish Shettar for the post, which was not at all acceptable to Yeddyurappa.

A meeting of the legislature party was slated to be held in no time to formally elect the new leader after Yeddyurappa put in his papers but those expectations were belied as consultations among the top party leaders turned out to be protracted.

Jaitley and Singh, who were slated to return to Delhi tonight as the Parliament session in commencing tomorrow, are believed to have cancelled the trip and are expected to leave only tomorrow morning.