Yeddyurappa puts off decision to quit party for now

Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa yesterday went back on his earlier threat of mass resignation of MLAs loyal to him from their respective posts to precipitate a crisis for the Sadananda Gowda government.

Ratcheting up the suspense from early morning, he said he would announce his decision at 4:00 pm, and then pushed it forward by an hour. Addressing a crowded press conference at his Race Course residence he said, "I have only postponed my decision to quit. This is not a blackmail tactics as I am not aspiring to become the CM or the party president."

Yeddyurappa claimed he had decided to hold back the decision to resign from the post of MLA in deference to advice from mutt seers, party leaders Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley who said that the party would be orphaned, if he quit.

The central leadership is expected to depute Jaitley to Karnataka shortly to work out an understanding between Yeddyurappa and Gowda.

Yeddyurappa maintained that he had informed speaker K G Bopaiah that he would be meeting him around noon to hand over his resignation from the assembly seat, but the resignation of MLAs was not required.

He used the meet to attack chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda, party national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar and state BJP chief K S Eshwarappa saying while concluding, that he was leaving the decision to the central leadership, as to whether they required Yeddyurappa. ''I have strived 40 years for the party. Within three years of becoming CM, my programmes such as Bhagyalakshmi (scheme for girl child) and bicycles to students are still remembered," he said.