SHIMOGA: Sulking over BJP leadership snubbing his demand for a "suitable position" in the state unit, former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today stayed away from a meeting called to discuss strategy for the upcoming Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha bypoll.
Though Yeddyurappa and his son B Y Raghavendra, MP, were in the city, both did not attend the BJP Yuva Morcha meeting, party sources said.
State unit BJP president K S Eswarappa and Yuva Morcha President V Sunil Kumar, whom the party has fielded for the bypoll, were present.
Yeddyurappa told reporters that he would undertake a state-wide tour from March six.
He said he has directed his supporters to convert a programme, being organised in Hubli on March 11 in connection with his 70th birthday celebrations, into a platform to discuss problems of North Karnataka region.
With BJP chief Nitin Gadkari ruling out replacement of Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Yeddyurappa took a cautious path and dropped his plans to turn his birthday celebrations on February 27 into a show of strength, making it a low-key affair.
Both Yeddyurappa and Eswarappa condemned the attack by lawyers on mediapersons in Bangalore.