JOIN USGadkari coming on monitoring visit
Gadkari will interact with State ministers and party legislators, during a series of meetings in Bangalore. Sources in the BJP said Gadkari is keen on interacting with the legislators to get their feedback on the central leadership's decision on November 24 to give scam-scarred chief minister a reprieve.
He will take stock of political situation in the State and discuss the Opposition strategies and the BJP's preparations for the coming zilla and taluk panchayat elections, sources added.
Gadkari’s consultations during his visit will also provide inputs for the party’s internal inquiry into the charges against the chief minister.
Soon after he arrives in the City on Tuesday, Gadkari will meet the State party office-bearers.
A meeting with the State ministers is scheduled for the afternoon, including one-on-one interaction with a few of them, with the BJPLP meeting scheduled for the evening. All the meetings will be held at a resort on the outskirts of Bangalore.
Internal bickering
The focus of the visit will be on the internecine conflicts among the BJP ministers and legislators in the State. Yeddyurappa has been at odds with the Bellary ministers who have been seething over the chief minister surviving by playing the Lingayat card.
They are also furious with him for what they see as the chief minister's action in leaking the 'Ashok Sharma CD' to the media which purportedly showed Reddy striking a deal with the self-proclaimed power broker to unseat Yeddyurappa.
Yeddyurappa has also not earned any brownie points with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and National General Secretary Ananth Kumar who have not taken too kindly to his reported accusation that they had conspired to destabilise his government.
Arun Jaitley, the party’s legal-eagle and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has been tasked to advice on court cases relating to disqualification of rebel BJP MLAs as also those linked to denotification of lands and allotment to family members.
Jaitley who is to officially “give special attention to Karnataka party affairs” may also operate as a buffer between the State Chief Minister and Sushma Swaraj.
Shanta Kumar, former Union Minister and ex-chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, who was put in-charge of Karnataka did not devote much time to Karnataka and has been replaced by BJP General Secretary and MP from Odisha, Dharmendra Pradhan.
Pradhan, who shared the charge of piloting the party to its triumph in Bihar polls, will actively interact with the State party MLAs and MPs and report to Jaitley who would keep any further troubles and controversies in the first-ever BJP government in the southern state in tight check, sources said.