BSY installs loyalist Dhananjaya Kumar as KJP president

Seeking to give momentum to hisstated objective to float a regional party, former ChiefMinister B S Yeddyurappa today installed his loyalist VDhananjaya Kumar as President of Karnataka Janatha Paksha(KJP) as he prepared to officially quit the BJP next month.

Kumar, who served as Minister of State for Finance andTextiles in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee,was expelled from BJP recently after he launched a broad-sideagainst Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.

KJP sources said he would serve as interim President andYeddyurappa would take over the party leadership after KJP isformally launched at a rally at Haveri, some 350 km from hereon December 9, with the former Chief Minister snapping tieswith the BJP by then.

He said KJP is a registered state political party. Itcame into being only last year and has not contested electionsso far. Its President Prasanna Kumar resigned from the posttoday, paving the way for Kumar to take over.

"As Yeddyurappa has said he will snap ties with the BJP,we are fervently pleading with him to come and join the KJPand lead it and guide and bless us", Kumar told reporters. "Weare confident that Yeddyurappa will soon join us and lead us".

He charged the national parties Congress and BJP with not responding properly to regional problems and gave therecent Cauvery river water sharing row as an example, allegingthat the two outfits failed to "utter a single word" insupport of Karnatakas interests.

"Our strong belief is that we need a regional party", hesaid.

KJP also announced is office-bearers. M D Lakshminarayanaand K H Srinivasa were appointed general secretary and seniorvice-president, respectively.

Yeddyurappa has repeatedly said in the last few weeksthat his decision to quit the BJP is final and the question ofreviewing it does not arise.