When BS Yeddyurappa was forced by his party to quit as Karnataka's Chief Minister, he picked Sadananda Gowda to replace him. The understanding was that Mr Gowda would serve as a seat-warmer, and would make way for Mr Yeddyurappa as soon as he extricated himself from a series of corruption cases. Mr Yeddyurappa now wants his office back, but 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.
Both the current chief minister and the chief minister-in-waiting are in Delhi to stake their claim to the top job in Karnataka, where the BJP's first term in power has been mangled by bitter political in-fighting.
Mr Gowda met this morning with his party's most senior leaders - LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and finally, BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Mr Yeddyurappa spent most of the morning consulting with his loyalists. He reached Mr Gadkari's residence at around 2 in the afternoon. "I am going to meet the leaders. I will respect the wishes of the central leadership," he said ahead of his meeting with the party chief.
When Mr Yeddyurappa arrived at the Delhi airport last night, he was asked if he was going to become the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. "I have no idea. High command knows everything," he replied. "All important leaders wanted to meet and Nitin Gadkariji and Jaitelyji told us to come to Delhi. So we're going to meet them," he added.
The BJP doesn't have very long to decide. 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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