BANGALORE: Despite the BJP high command announcing its decision to continue with the present arrangement — D V Sadananda Gowda as the chief minister and K S Eshwarappa as state BJP president — former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has still not given up his fight for a “suitable post”.
Immediately after BJP national president Nitin Gadkari announced that there would be no change in leadership in the state and Yeddyurappa should have to wait till he gets cleared of all charges, the former chief minister met his supporters at his residence and decided to step-up the pressure on the party for a suitable post for himself.
Around 25 MLAs, including state ministers Basavaraj Bommai, M P Renukacharya, Murugesh Nirani, V Somanna, Shobha Karandlaje and Jagadish Shettar, were present in the meeting. “This is going to be a door- die battle for us.
The situation has reached a stage where we either get what we want or leave the party,” a prominent supporter of Yeddyurappa told Express.
Before taking the extreme step, Yeddyurappa will explore all possibilities to convince the party higher-ups on why he should be given the leadership of party in the state, he added.
As a first effort, Yeddyurappa’s supporters have decided to use his birthday, which falls on February 27, as an opportunity to show their strength by organising a mammoth convention.
During this, his supporters would make an appeal to the party high command publicly to give their leader a suitable post.
On the same day, the supporters have also convened a meeting of all MLAs where a formal resolution would be adopted seeking Yeddyurappa a top position either in the party or in the state government.
This will be followed by a delegation of his supporters meeting the party’s upper echelons in Delhi to press for their cause.
Also, the Yeddyurappa camp has decided to garner the support of as many MLAs as possible in order to increase their bargaining power.