K’taka crisis ebbs: Deal or climbdown?

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Nine ministers owing allegiance to former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa withdrew their resignations at a time when the crisis in the ruling party was threatening to spiral out of control, setting off speculation that it was either the end of another abortive effort to oust Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda or that the rebels have decided to hold fire for a couple of days following an assurance from the top brass of the party.

The sudden U-turn on Monday came a day ahead of the crucial core committee meeting in New Delhi scheduled to discuss the political crisis in Karnataka.

Rural development minister Jagadish Shettar, who had been propped up as the chief minister candidate by Mr Yeddyurappa and his supporters, made the announcement after a meeting with the former chief minister and other ministers following calls from senior leaders in Delhi that their demand for change in leadership would be taken up at the core committee meeting only if they withdrew their resignations.

“Our central leaders told us to withdraw the resignations and go to Delhi for talks in a conducive atmosphere,” Mr Shettar said before emplaning for Delhi with his supporters. He, however, declined to disclose details about possible trade-offs as part of the latest formula to end the four-day-long crisis.

The sudden development certainly brought much relief to Mr Sadananda Gowda just as he was about to leave for Delhi.

“I have no ill-will against any one. I am confident that our central leaders will resolve the crisis,” Mr Gowda said about his ministerial colleagues who quit on Friday citing “deficit of trust” as one of the key factors. On his arrival in Delhi, Mr Gowda discussed problems plaguing the state unit and frequent infighting with patriarch L.K. Advani for 20 minutes, according to sources in the party.

The rival factions, however, claimed victory for Monday’s unexpected development, with those belonging to the Yeddyurappa camp claiming that they had wrested an assurance for their demand for replacing Mr Sadananda Gowda with Mr Shettar which, they said would happen shortly.

On the other hand, supporters of the Chief Minister said the prospect of dissolution of the Legislative Assembly had forced the rebels to fall in line and withdraw their resignations.