Embattled state Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa who landed in Bengaluru airport after a week in Mauritius, told the waiting media that he would not step down.
“My government will complete its term and not dither on follow-up action on Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde’s final report on illegal mining,” he said on Monday.
By afternoon at an official press conference where he paraded his supporters and detractors in a show of force, he changed his tone after he had spoken to party chief Nitin Gadkari. Maintaining he was an ordinary BJP worker, Yeddyurappa announced, “Whatever decision the party national president takes, I will abide by it.”
On the leak of the Lokayukta report, he said, “The sanctity of Lokayukta report will not be lost even if the report is leaked,” adding the government would make serious efforts to implement the report after it was submitted.
Asked why he had asked for an internal probe on charges of illegal gratification even when he knew that court cases were pending against him, he ducked the question and wound up the interaction abruptly.
Can he stay the course? Sources in the party said that chief minister’s support is dwindling at the centre and the state.
In a bid to demonstrate his strength, Yeddyurappa gathered several ministers, MPs, city MLAs, and chairmen of boards and corporations to the conference hall where he interacted with the media.
Ministers like Jagadish Shettar, G. Karunakar Reddy, G and Janardhan Reddy were present on the occasion giving the impression that BSY was the undisputed leader of the party.
But sources said that such tactics might not help him if the high command decides to pull the plug as his core supporters were now down from the original 110 to less than half, most of them, Lingayats from North Karnataka who owe their electoral victory to him in terms of both caste and cash.
In Delhi, refusing to comment on Yeddyurappa's fate, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Monday said any decision on the issue will be taken only after the Lokayukta report on illegal mining is submitted but also said that BSY had assured him that contrary to earlier reports of dissolving the assembly and calling for polls, the CM would follow the party diktat.
"I spoke to him and he told me that whatever decision I take, he would abide by it. Any decision would be taken only after we go through Justice Hegde's report," said Gadkari.
Sources disclosed that after senior leader Shanta Kumar questioned the party top brass on why no action has been taken against Mr Yeddyurappa, other leaders are questioning the central leadership.
A majority within the party feel that BSY's continuance will weaken the BJP's fight against corruption.
"The impression we get here is that Mr Yeddyurappa's support has virtually disappeared in New Delhi. For the first time in three years, there is no central leader who can defend him in New Delhi," sources in Bengaluru said.
"The worrying factor is not just the charges of corruption levelled by opposition parties and how he lurches from one controversy to another. The central leaders are worried about the party not expanding its base to other parts of south India. We have lost Rajasthan. As a political party, the central leaders might think of retaining the state using the popularity of Mr Yeddyurappa and the Lingayat vote bank. If they give more weight to this factor, they will retain him for six months or so and go for elections after that," sources pointed out.