Bangalore : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Friday rejected scam-hit former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s demand for immediate reinstatement but said he will be given an honourable position once he is cleared of the charges.
“There is no question of change (of Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda),” Gadkari told reporters after addressing ministers, legislators and MPs at a meeting at a resort on Bangalrore’s outskirts.
He, however, tried to placate the sulking Yeddyurappa: “Yeddyurappa is the popular face of our party in Karnataka.”
Gadkari said: “The Lokayukta (ombudsman) report is an injustice to Yeddyurappa. He has challenged it. I am confident he will get justice. He will be given an honourable position then.”
Yeddyurappa quit July 31 last year after the then Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde recommended his trial for corruption in the illegal mining scam.
Gowda, who took over as chief minister Aug 4, was Yeddyurappa’s choice. However, the two have fallen out allegedly because Gowda is trying to emerge out of Yeddyurappa’s shadow.
Yeddyurappa’s supporters say he will announce his plan of action Feb 27, his 70th birthday.
The power struggle in the state unit forced BJP to cut short its two-day brainstorming session to teach morality and discipline to its ministers and legislators.
The two-day ‘chintan-manthan’ was called following the involvement of three ministers – Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and J. Krishna Palemar – in porn viewing in the assembly Feb 7. The three quit the cabinet the next day.
But the meet was cut short by one day. The reason given for ending the session Friday itself was that Gadkari had to go back to Uttar Pradesh for the election campaign.
The party was aware that campaigning in that state had peaked when it announced the chintan-manthan.
But it failed to anticipate the possibility of its first chief minister Yeddyurappa, smarting after he was forced to quit, seizing the opportunity of Gadkari’s visit to press for his reinstatement or for a top position in
the state unit.
With Yeddyurappa and his supporters indicating they will walk out of the ‘chintan-manthan’ after Gadkari’s address, the party said the meet will be a one-day affair.
It turned out to be half-day affair as the meet was called off after Gadkari left for Delhi soon after his address.
Yeddyurappa remained grim-faced at the meet as Gadkari rejected his demand at meeting the two had at a hotel in the city centre ahead of the chintan-manthan session.
In New Delhi, party senior leader Arun Jaitley denied there was any problem in the Karnataka unit. He said Yeddyurappa was not creating any problem for the party.