BANGALORE: Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa could be all set to remain as a caretaker CM till the zilla and taluk panchayat elections, if state BJP president K S Eshwarappa can have his way.
He told Express on Tuesday night that he will tell the party's central leadership to retain Yeddyurappa as chief minister till the completion of the two-tier rural local body elections slated for December.
"We cannot afford to take the risk by effecting change of guard at this point of time as it is the question of fate of 4,500 candidates and lakhs of party cadre at the grassroot level. It is also essential to speed up the developmental activities in the rural areas ahead of the ZP and TP elections," Eshwarappa said.
Eshwarappa has been summoned by party national president Nitin Gadkari to seek his opinion on the continuation or otherwise of Yeddyurappa as chief minister before taking a final call.
However, deputy chairman of the State Planning Board Ramachandra Gowda differs from Eshwarappa on this concept.
According to Ramachandra Gowda, given Yeddyurappa's nature and style of functioning, he is most unlikely to agree to this condition as the countdown for his exit would begin on Wednesday itself.
"The outgoing CM will not be able to command respect and loyalty from officers as well as the people. The thinking, by itself, is totally flawed and sounds illogical. More than anything else, it is unethical as it would tantamount to using somebody and discarding later. This would not be acceptable to anybody within the party as well as among the people," he added.
He said, "I will speak to Yeddyurappa and tell him to return from Delhi as an unquestioned leader."