BANGALORE: The crisis in the state BJP ended in an anti-climax on Tuesday with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa falling in line with the party diktat and withdrawing his revolt.
Yeddyurappa decided to call off his two-day-old revolt after the party high command reportedly told him in no uncertain terms that his demand for reinstatement as chief minister cannot be met under duress and the party would take a call on the issue only after the Budget session. The divided opinion in his camp over the boycott of the Budget also led to his climbdown. The Budget session of the Karnataka Legislature will be over on March 30.
Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters at the resort where Yeddyurappa and his supporting MLAs were camping since Sunday, that their faction decided to attend the session following a “positive assurance” by the party high command.
“The party high command has responded positively to our demand and assured that it would decide on the leadership issue soon. Hence, we have decided to attend the session. Moreover, the Budget is something that is directly related to the welfare of the people and we don’t want to disrupt that process,” Bommai announced, adding that the party’s national core committee would meet on Wednesday evening to decide on their demand.
With this, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will be a relieved man as he can now present the Budget and take on the Opposition without any apprehension.
The signs of climbdown by the Yeddyurappa camp was palpable as Bommai had told the media in the morning that the beleaguered Lingayat strongman had agreed to allow Gowda to present the Budget as scheduled on March 21 and the party will send its emissary to sort out the leadership issue.
Earlier in the day, barring five, all MLAs of the Yeddyurappa camp boycotted the opening day’s proceedings of the session, which was devoted to paying homage to former higher education minister V S Acharya.
As a result, there were only 31 of the 120 BJP MLAs and 14 ministers in the House, thus earning the wrath of the Opposition. “It’s shameful. Never in the history of Karnataka Legislature was such low attendance for an obituary reference witnessed. The government has no right to continue,” Opposition leader Siddaramaiah charged.
Sadananda Gowda confirmed that he will present the Budget. “There should be no doubt. I will present the Budget,” he said, adding he would take vote-on-account on March 28.