Discussed shifting to national politics with Nitin Gadkari: BS Yeddyurappa

Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa today said he had discussed with BJP President Nitin Gadkari the issue of his shifting to national politics after the next assembly elections, and would abide by the decision of the party central leadership.

"I have discussed with Nitinji. Whatever decision I am going to take, that will be finally decided by our (central) leaders. According to their direction, I will proceed further", he told reporters in response to a question on his desire to shift to national politics.

Springing a surprise, Yeddyurappa said earlier this week he would quit state politics after the next assembly elections due in May 2013, shift to the national scene and possibly become a Rajya Sabha member.

Yeddyurappa said there was no possibility of him meeting governor HR Bhardwaj, who is locked in a war of words with his government, today as he was proceeding to Mandya for campaigning in the Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections.

There are a lot of issues coming out regarding the governor. I will discuss (the issues) after election (Taluk and Zilla Panchayat polls on December 26 and 31) results," he said.

Bhardwaj had been repeatedly raising the issue of alleged corruption involving some ministers in the cabinet and land scams.

Yeddyurappa said he would also discuss with his cabinet colleagues regarding writing to President Pratibha Patil complaining about the governor and take a decision on it.

When his reaction was sought on "the name of Ananth Kumar (senior BJP leader and former Union Minister) coming out vis-a-vis 2G spectrum scam (Radia tapes), Yeddyurappa saw it as a "systematic conspiracy" by Congress to deliberately seek to create confusion by bringing up "all irrelevant names".

"Congress could not conduct Parliament session leading to hanging our heads (in shame). So, they want to create confusion this way or that way. Truth will come out. This is a baseless allegation (against Ananth Kumar)", he said.

Yeddyurappa said the attempts to "insult" Ananth Kumar would "boomerang" on the Congress.

On the local body elections, he expressed confidence of the BJP doing well. The BJP government's development programmes had become "household" topics, he claimed, adding he hasn't seen such an enthusiasm by the people in his three-decade political career.

Yeddyurappa said the people would reply to "whatever the Congress and JD(S) are discussing" (allegations of corruption against the government) by voting for the BJP in a big way at the hustings.