BJP jittery over BSY's breakfast meet with MLAs

Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has again made the Jagadish Shettar government feel jittery.

After warning the BJP leadership that he would bring down the Shettar government in the event of action being initiated against his loyalists, Yeddyurappa has now decided to host breakfast for the BJP MLAs and MPs on December 9 at Haveri, hours before the scheduled rally of his fledgling Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).

Yeddyurappa’s show-of-strength exercise through the breakfast meeting is apparently aimed at sending a message to the BJP that the survival of its government is still dependent on his support. Besides, the former chief minister is eager to show that he is still a force to reckon with in the State.

The breakfast meeting is planned to be held at BJP MLC Shivaraj Sajjan’s house in Haveri. However, he has decided not to force the MLAs to take part in the rally as he knows that many of his staunch followers are not ready to either quit the Cabinet or join the KJP.

KJP General Secretary M D Lakshminarayan said his party has already started sending invitations to the BJP MLAs and MPs for the Haveri rally. The KJP is not making the arrangements hush-hush.

“Nearly 50 MLAs and about 10 MPs will attend the breakfast meeting. We are also planning to make transportation arrangements for the legislators from Belgaum, where the winter session of the Legislature is on, to Haveri,” he added.

Yeddyurappa’s move has caused anxiety in the BJP, especially in the wake of his threat to the BJP central leadership on Tuesday that any action against his supporters would entail the fall of the government within 24 hours.

The State party leaders, most of whom are busy in the on-going legislature session, are in a dilemma. For, they cannot stop the MLAs from attending the breakfast meeting as it does not amount to anti-party activity. At the same time, it will have to cut a sorry figure if the legislators are allowed to attend the breakfast meeting.

State BJP President K S Eshwarappa has already warned that the party will take action against five MLAs and two MPs, who took part in a recent event in Bangalore where Yeddyurappa formally joined the KJP. Interestingly, all these MLAs and MPs have announced that they will attend the rally. The five MLAs are: Nehru Olekar, B P Harish, H Halappa, D S Suresh and S I Chikkanagoudar.

Meanwhile, the developments in the ruling party have become the topic of discussion on the lounges of both the Houses of Legislature here. “Will the KJP succeed in making a good number of BJP legislators attend its convention?” “How many BJP MLAs would finally go with the Congress?” are the two main questions that are being debated.

Shettar is, however, confident about the survival of his government. The BJP has not initiated action against those MLAs who have continued to show their loyalty to Yeddyurappa.

Besides, the main opposition Congress is almost certain that it will not move a no-confidence motion against the BJP government. For, the party is not sure whether the BJP will remain divided when it comes to voting on such a motion. Also, toppling a Lingayat leader-led government may not help the party in the next elections, sources in the Congress said.

Shettar, however, said the government was prepared to face no-confidence motion. He claimed the goverment was stable and will complete its term.