Karnataka BJP crisis persists, scene shifts to Delhi

Bangalore : The crisis in the Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party unit, triggered by Friday’s resignation of nine ministers seeking removal of Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, continued Saturday, though a party emissary was hopeful of early solution.

“We are inching towards early solution to the crisis,” BJP general secretary and state in charge Dharmendra Pradhan, who was sent by party central leadership to Bangalore Saturday, told reporters here after day-long talks with various factions in the state unit.

Pradhan is returning to New Delhi Sunday to brief the party’s central leaders on his efforts.

He did not indicate when the central leaders would consider a solution to the crisis.

However, Karnataka Medical Education Minister S. A. Ramdas said the party’s parliamentary board would meet in Delhi in the next two or three days for a final decision to end the problem.

Pradhan said he had met “all important leaders of Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party. Everything will be settled within the party”.

He first met eight of the nine ministers who have submitted their resignations and followed it up with talks with the chief minister and his supporters.

The nine ministers are loyalists of scam-hit former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, whom Pradhan met late Saturday.

Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai, one of the nine ministers to resign, exuded confidence after meeting Pradhan that their demand to remove Gowda and make Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar the chief minister will be accepted.

“We are confident that we have been able to convince Pradhan of our stand. We hope for early solution,” Bommai said. Shettar has also submitted his resignation.

While the chief minister did not meet the press after his talks with Pradhan, Municipal Administration Minister Balachandra Jarakiholi, a loyalist of Gowda, too said they were hopeful of an early solution.

With BJP president Nitin Gadkari busy with organising his son’s wedding reception in Delhi July 2, the party central leaders might give time to resolve the Karnataka crisis the next day.

Besides Shettar and Bommai, other ministers who have submitted the resignations are C.M. Udasi (public works), Murugesh Nirani (industries), V.Somanna (housing), Umesh Katti (agriculture), Revu Naik Belamagi (libraries and animal husbandry), M.P. Renukacharya (excise) and Raju Gowda (small scale industries).