BJP will do the right thing, says hopeful Yeddyurappa

New Delhi:  There are two men in Delhi who are determined to return to Karnataka as Chief Minister. Both have met their party president, Nitin Gadkari. "I am confident the BJP will do the right thing," said BS Yeddyurappa, one of the contenders. He made it clear what the correct thing would be. Referring to his forced resignation as Chief Minister in July on the basis of corruption charges, he said that a court last week had dismissed those charges.
The man he hand-picked to replace him, V Sadananda Gowda, was intended to serve as a seat-warmer, who would make way for his mentor once Mr Yeddyurappa extricated himself from a series of corruption cases.  The problem is Mr Gowda has had a change of heart, "The BJP high command has told me there is no leadership change at present in Karnataka," said Mr Gowda today, known for his infectious smile.
The party says that Mr Gadkari will consult with other senior leaders before taking a call.  

As part of his campaign, Mr Gowda met this morning with some of those leaders like LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi.  

The BJP doesn't have very long to decide who will be its main man in Karnataka, where the party is in power for the first time. If it sides with Mr Yeddyurappa, it will lose all moral ground in its anti-corruption campaign. In Delhi, the party has been attacking the Congress for a series of scams. Mr Advani conducted a rath-yatra last year to highlight the need for clean governance, and to suggest that the BJP can provide that. Mr Yeddyurappa was cleared of some corruption charges by a court last week; but he has other cases pending against him for handing public land to his family at huge discounts. Last year, he spent nearly a month in jail.

But this week, Mr Yeddyurappa proved his might with any lack of restraint. A group of nearly 70 of the BJPs 110 MLAs in Karnataka showed their allegiance to him by moving into a five-star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore, which was once owned by actor Sanjay Khan and hosted the wedding of his daughter to actor Hrithik Roshan. They reported to work at the Karnataka Assembly only when Mr Yeddyurappa granted his sanction.

However, that didn't end the BJP's troubles in the state where it is running its first government. In a critical by-election yesterday, the BJP lost the Lok Sabha seat from Udipi-Chikmagalur - the former constituency of Mr Gowda. The defeat is a victory in disguise for Mr Yeddyurappa who chose not to campaign there, allegedly because his party had reservations about the corruption cases against him, and whether that would affect voters.

The dispute between the current and former Chief Minister has caste overtones as well. Mr Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, chose a Vokkaliga to replace him. Both are dominant communities in the state - and the BJP is in a bind now in case they have alienated the Lingayat vote bank. Would one time Yeddyurappa foe turned ally, Jagadish Shettar, another Lingayat, be a potential Chief Ministerial choice that would satisfy Mr Yeddyurappa if he is given the chair himself? And how would the Vokkaliga community react to a Chief Minister from their community being dumped on the demands of the volatile Mr Yeddyurappa? Elections to the state Assembly are due in 2013.  

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