Faction fight comes to the fore, again

Ugly factional squabbles in the BJP were at play again ahead of the legislature party meeting held in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Last-minute muscle flexing by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda’s camp delayed the legislature party meeting by at least five hours.

The Gowda team strength on Tuesday swelled with legislators who had identified themselves with the party organisation, including K S Eshwarappa, Sogadu Shivanna, Balachandra Jarkiholi, C T Ravi, Appachu Ranjan, backing Gowda. Ministers and legislators with RSS background — Suresh Kumar and Vishveshvara Hegde Kageri — stood by Gowda on the grounds that they were with the party.

 The outgoing chief minister had the backing of several Vokkaliga MLAs - Ashwathnarayana, Muniraju, Shankarlinge Gowda, to name a few.

The Yeddyurappa camp had his usual supporters — Renukacharya, Basavaraj Bommai, Murugesh Nirani, Shobha Karandlaje, Karunkara Reddy and scores of Lingayat and other legislators who had backed him during previous rebellions.