Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, and BJP leader in charge of Karnataka, Dharmendra Pradhan, are likely to arrive in the city on Friday to iron out differences in the state unit even as ministers and legislators identified as camp followers of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa remained firm in their stand on change of leadership here.
On Thursday, supporters of the former chief minister met rural development and panchayat raj minister Jagadish Shettar at his residence and discussed the strategy to be adopted during their meeting with Mr Jaitley. Sources close to the former chief minister, however, were not optimistic about the outcome of discussions with Mr Jaitley. “We have no hope of the crisis being resolved till our central leaders take a firm stand on either retaining Mr Yeddyurappa or expelling him from the party,” the sources added.
Besides, the party would address others issues on priority, including a second term for party president Nitin Gadkari, ahead of the forthcoming national executive scheduled for May 24 and 25 at Mumbai. “Once he gets another term, Mr. Gadkari will definitely look into party affairs in Karnataka. We hope that he will take a firm decision on the future of Mr Yeddyurappa,” the sources added.
The sources, however, are certain that Mr Jaitley would brief central leaders on various options at hand to solve the crisis in Karnataka. Interestingly, Mr Shettar met state unit president K.S. Eshwarappa at the party office ahead of his discussions with supporters of Mr Yeddyurappa. His talks with Mr Eshwarappa were intended to find a solution rather than adopt a path of confrontation, the sources added.
Meanwhile, supporters of Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, too, held a closed door meeting with Mr Eshwarappa and finalized their strategies ahead of the visit of Mr Jaitley.