BANGALORE: The problems in the ruling BJP resurfaced again with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa renewing his ‘oust Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda campaign’ with vigour.
It is said that this time Yeddyurappa is using to his advantage the state government’s alleged softly-peddled reply to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on three former chief ministers - S M Krishna, N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy about their roles in illegal mining.
Yeddyurappa on Sunday dispatched a team of his ‘loyal ministers’ - Basavaraj Bommai, Umesh Katti, C M Udasi, Murugesh Nirani, Renukacharya and Somanna to Nagpur to apprise them of Gowda’s alleged hobnobbing with the Opposition parties to retain his office.
Yeddyurappa also discussed the ill-treatment being meted out to the MLAs and ministers of his camp.
The ministers who left Bangalore on Sunday afternoon, met Gadkari and other RSS leaders in Nagpur and complained about Gowda and state BJP president K S Eshwarappa.
However, these ministers claimed that they had been to Nagpur to wish Gadkari on his 50th birthday.
According to sources, the minsters told Gadkari how Gowda was trying to shield Vokkaliga leaders like Kumaraswamy and S M Krishna by not providing required documents to the CEC despite the latter asking state’s opinion on conducting a CBI inquiry against these two.
Yeddyurappa thinks that Gowda had deliberately delayed replying to the CEC and hid important documents from the Supreme Court-appointed panel.
The ministers also explained the need to replace Gowda with a Lingayat leader keeping next year’s Assembly elections in mind.
“Since Lingayats are the main vote bank for the party, making someone from their community as the chief minister would benefit the party in the next elections,” the visiting ministers reportedly told Gadkari and the RSS leaders.
Meanwhile to step up the pressure, Yeddyurappa has arranged a breakfast meeting for his supporting MLAs and ministers on May 29.
Yeddyurappa reportedly contacted all the party MLAs over phone and invited them to attend the breakfast meeting to discuss various matters.