Hope for mutiny-hit Yeddyurappa as rebel lawmakers agree to meet him
The uncertainty over Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's continuance seems to have ended with the 16 rebel lawmakers agreeing to meet him later on Sunday.
The legislators, 11 of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and five independents, are returning to Bengaluru on Sunday, two days after the Supreme Court restored their membership.
Many of these lawmakers, who were disqualified on October 11 last year ahead of a trust vote sought by Yeddyurappa, said in Delhi on Saturday that all 16 of them would meet the chief minister in Bengaluru on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier on Saturday, some of the BJP rebel lawmakers met senior party leader Arun Jaitley to decide on the next step following the apex court order giving back their membership.
The 16 legislators were disqualified after they told Governor H.R. Bhardwaj that they had lost confidence in Yeddyurappa.
Jaitley and BJP general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Dharmendra Pradhan may accompany the 16 to seal the peace deal in the meeting with Yeddyurappa.
Yeddyurappa has convened assembly session May 16 and is waiting for Bhardwaj's nod for it.
Meanwhile, BJP chief whip in Karnataka assembly D.N. Jeevaraj late on Saturday said that a meeting of party legislators has been called on Monday morning in Bengaluru and the 11 BJP lawmakers have been invited to attend it.
Excluding the 11 rebels, the BJP has 109 members, including the speaker, in the 225-strong assembly that has one nominated member.
The Congress has 71 members and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 26. One seat is vacant.
Hence, Yeddyurappa needs the support of at least four more members for majority - 113.
The decision of the rebels to meet Yeddyurappa comes as a relief to the chief minister who has been facing increasing dissidence in his party.
Yeddyurappa is also under mounting pressure from the opposition Congress and JD-S to quit, particularly in view of the strictures passed by the Supreme Court over the way he and Speaker K.G. Bopaiah acted over the disqualification issue.
The two parties have demanded that Bhardwaj recommend to the central government to dismiss Yeddyurappa government as it has been reduced to minority following the restoration of membership of the 16 rebels.
They have also urged Bhardwaj not to agree to convene the assembly on May 16.
Bhardwaj, who has been in Delhi and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, is also returning to Bengaluru on Sunday.
He said he has not taken a decision on holding the assembly session from May 16.
"I will decide on my return to Bengaluru," he told reporters on Saturday.
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