The BJP blinks

Embattled Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa stared down the BJP’s central leadership and retained his seat on the back of a threatened revolt by a majority of party MPs and the possibility of a politically debilitating Lingayat backlash. Faced with an unrepentant Yeddyurappa, the BJP chose to put the continuance of its government in the southern state above probity concerns and backed away from its Sunday’s decision on his ouster over allegations of land being allotted to firms linked to his sons. While Yeddyurappa’s exit had looked on the cards, Wednesday saw an about turn by the party. The decision to retain Yeddyurappa came after meetings that stretched well into Tuesday night, with BJP president Nitin Gadkari holding consultations with the CM and other senior leaders. Panchayat polls, leaders’ views on scams helped BSY . By dawn, Yeddyurappa seemed to have scripted a great escape for himself, beating the odds and the will of party leaders. The CM seemed to have also been helped by some leaders taking a less serious view of corruption cases against him. With the BJP facing a Hobson’s choice, the leaders were more inclined to take the view that the CM should be asked to be wary in the future. Yeddyurappa has argued that the role of in-house rivals like Ananth Kumar must not be ignored and his supporters have pointed to leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj’s proximity to the Reddy brothers. The BJP brass has in the past acknowledged the role of the mining barons in helping the party in the assembly election. In Delhi, the central BJP leadership maintained that the party took the decision on Yeddyurappa in the context of the panchayat polls. Senior leader Arun Jaitley said, “We are in the process of taking a final view and the matter is being dealt with by party chief Nitin Gadkari.’’ In a nerveless encounter, the chief minister was riding on reported resignation threats from 14 of 19 party MPs from Karnataka, the Lingayat factor, a divided national leadership and influential mutt chiefs lobbying for him. The MPs are said to have harped on the TINA (there is no other alternative) factor and cited the upcoming zilla and taluk panchayat elections as the immediate challenge facing them. Surviving the second major crisis in his 30-month tenure, Yeddyurappa’s defiance underlined the BJP high command’s loss of authority and its inability to get state satraps to fall in line. While Yeddyurappa claimed mass support, his example might well be emulated by others, including more sedate leaders like Shivraj Chauhan and Raman Singh. In October, the Reddy brothers had armtwisted the leadership into agreeing to their conditions to call off the rebellion marshalled by them. Sources said the CM, apart from threatening to dissolve the assembly, also sought action against Ananth Kumar.