Gowda threatens BJP with revolt

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Amid high drama that lasted six hours, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday demonstrated that he is no push-over as he stymied efforts by his predecessor B.S. Yeddyurappa to grab plum posts ahead of the election of Lingayat strongman, Jagadish Shettar, as leader of the legislature party.

Mr Gowda’s adamant stand on contentious issues and his demand he be appointed the state unit president, delayed the legislature party meeting till 4.30 pm. The swearing-in, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was deferred by a day with Mr Gowda set to hand in his resignation to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on Wednesday.

Party sources said Mr Gowda was not only backed by central observers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, but patriarch L.K. Advani himself, in his mission to ensure that Mr Yeddyurappa would not have his way in either selection of the deputy chief minister or the state party president.

Mr Advani was reportedly furious when he heard that the tainted former chief minister was supporting energy minister Shobha Karandlaje’s candidature for state unit president and home minister R. Ashok for deputy chief minister’s post.

When Mr Gowda indicated that he was ready to revolt, as many as 48 legislators, including many from the Lingayat community, assembled at his official residence ‘Anugraha’ to support their leader.

The show of strength encouraged Mr Gowda to stand firm on heading the state unit, and induction of Mr Eshwarappa as deputy CM. After several rounds of discussions, the leaders decided to take a call on these contentious issues later and proceed with the formality of electing Mr Shettar as the new leader of the legislature party.

In the evening, Mr Sadananda Gowda and BSY proposed Mr Shettar’s name, while Mr Eshwarappa and minister Govinda Karjol seconded it.

Mr Rajnath Singh said, “Mr Gowda will submit his resignation to the Governor on Wednesday, and Mr Shettar will stake claim to form the new government. He will take oath as CM on Thursday. It is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to induct deputy chief ministers.”