BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has called for a cabinet meeting at 4pm Thursday, and a meeting of party MLCs and MLAs on July 26, the day his government completes two years in power.
The agenda for the cabinet meeting has not been finalised yet, nor has the venue been fixed for the July 26 meet. While CM Yediyurappa’s loyalists, like Revenue Minister R Ashoka, claimed it will be a meeting over high tea to commemorate two years in office, dissidents say there is more to it than meets the eye.
In fact, the dissident camp is already celebrating the fact that the Chief Minister has given in to their long-pending demand to hold a party meeting. They had been demanding that the Chief Minister hold a legislators’ meeting where they can raise party issues that may not be too palatable to Yediyurappa.
One dissident camp member told The New Indian Express that the Chief Minister, who is answerable to the Legislature Party, had not agreed to call a meeting until the central leadership prevailed upon him to do so, during his visit to New Delhi recently.
While one source said there may a handpicked few who may be called on to speak on the occasion, the Chief Mininster’s loyalists, like political secretary MP Renukacharya, said there is no cause for concern and that Yediyurappa will complete the remaining two years of his tenure. They also hasten to add that it is not a formal meeting, and there is no scope for official resolutions to be passed. Renukacharya told The New Indian Express that he is going to New Delhi on Tuesday evening.
National BJP General Secretary CT Ravi, who is also a legislator from Karnataka, told The New Indian Express that he will also participate in the meeting, subject to his tour programme. State President Nalin Kumar Kateel confirmed the meeting on July 26 to commemorate the party completing two years in power.
One expert, who did not want wish to be named, said that all parties hold Legislature Party meetings before the legislative session.
CM to be replaced? So says this audio
Bengaluru: In the backdrop of uncertainty about leadership change, an audio tape, purportedly of BJP State chief Nalin Kumar Kateel, went viral on Sunday night. The audio contains a conversation in Tulu, with the speaker saying that CM BS Yediyurappa will soon be replaced, along with his cabinet. Leaders like K S Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar will also be removed, he is heard saying. The speaker also says that three names are doing the rounds for the post of CM. TNIE does not authenticate the genuineness of the audio. Meanwhile, Kateel has claimed that the voice is not his. He said some mischievous people are behind the audio put out to tarnish the party’s name. ‘’I have written to CM to have the matter investigated,” he told TNIE.