Gowda to complete six months as Karnataka CM tomorrow

Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will complete six months in office tomorrow as he tries to refurbish the BJP's image tainted by charges of corruption in the midst of heightened fissures in the ruling party.

The toughest challenge to Gowda comes from senior BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa, who is making an all-out effort to reoccupy the chief minister's post, which he had to give up following his indictment by the Lokayukta report on illegal mining.
Gowda, who assumed office on August 4 as Yeddyurappa's man, is trying to come out of his shadow.

Yeddyurappa's release from jail on bail in an alleged land scam case and the BJP's defeat in Bellary by-election emboldened his supporters to think that the 'return of Yeddyurappa' was round the corner.

Soon, as many as 17 BJP members of Parliament reportedly pressured the party central leadership to reinstate Yeddyurappa as the chief minister, which prompted the former chief minister to say "there is a feeling" in the BJP that he should occupy the hot seat again.

When Gowda faced a crucial Council election there was speculation doing rounds that Yeddyurappa had set January 15 as the deadline for the BJP to make him the chief of the state BJP unit or the chief minister.

Speculation was also rife Yeddyurappa might split the party and join forces with Sharad Pawar's NCP if denied the chair. Gowda also had to face a spat between state BJP unit president K S Eshwarappa and Yeddyurappa. Yeddyurappa had launched a tirade against Eshwarappa, alleging that he was instrumental in sending him to jail and was attempting to throw him out of the party.

The angry outburst of Yeddyurappa had come after Eswarappa repeatedly stated that no position could be given to Yeddyurappa till he came out clean in corruption cases.

In fact, Eshwarappa and Gowda had met BJP leaders L K Advani and Rajnath Singh in Delhi to to discuss the issue. The central leaders reportedly directed them to resolve the matter at the state party level.

When the face-off went out of bounds, RSS intervened and reportedly directed Gowda, Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa to bury their differences on the leadership issue and leave the matter to be decided by the BJP central leadership.

Following RSS intervention, Yeddyurappa seemed to change course, saying, "Post Sankranti, there will be no change of guard, but in me. I have decided to change my thoughts, behaviour and words in the coming days".

However, Yeddyurappa announced that he would not cancel his statewide tour plan, unless Eshwarappa and Gowda asked him to do so. The soft-spoken Gowda has openly aired his desire to complete the remaining term and lead the party to victory in the next assembly election.

Interestingly, Gowda has come out of the web of being branded as Yeddyurappa's puppet by transferring officials reportedly close to his predecessor, giving a signal that he was not a pushover.

Doing a tightrope walk, Gowda has managed to carry out two rounds of ministry expansion without facing any major problem so far despite many claimants for ministerial berths.

Gowda has tactfully kept seven ministerial positions vacant in a move to ensure aspirants keep their hope alive and do nothing to create trouble for him or to the government.

He also managed to rope in the party central leadership to ward off pressure from mining magnets G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunakara Reddy to be re-inducted into the ministry. The powerful Reddy brothers were indicted by the Lokayukta in the report on illegal mining along with Yeddyurappa.

Even as Gowda showed signs of settling down, some MLAs claiming to be loyalists of Yeddyurappa, have now begun a signature campaign in support of their leader and demanding a "position" for him.

It remains to be seen whether Gowda will complete his term or if Yeddyurappa will stage a comeback.