JOIN USJaitley mission to woo BSY fails
A last-ditch effort by the BJP central leadership to retain B S Yeddyurappa in the organisation has failed, with the former chief minister reiterating that he will not budge from his decision to float a new political outfit.
Yeddyurappa conveyed his stand to party national leader Arun Jaitley here.
Jaitley, who arrived in Bangalore on Saturday evening, is learnt to have urged Yeddyurappa to withdraw his plan to launch the new organisation, named the Karnataka Janata Party.
Jaitley asked the former chief minister to desist from taking a hasty decision. He asked him to put off the party launch. Yeddyurappa reportedly told Jaitley, “I cannot go back on my decision.” Jaitley left for Delhi on Sunday morning.
Yeddyurappa, it is learnt, had initially refused to meet Jaitley. But his close aides advised him to meet the BJP leader and explain his stand. The two met at the residence of a City industrialist on the outskirts of Bangalore.
Yeddyurappa, who is facing a CBI probe into his alleged involvement in an illegal mining case, has been upset with the BJP for “sidelining him.” Yeddyurappa had demanded that he should be made the president of the State party unit. He also wanted the BJP to project him as its chief ministerial candidate in the next assembly elections. The party turned down his demands.
Speaking to reporters at his Dollars’ Colony residence on Sunday, Yeddyurappa said he was firm on his decision to quit the BJP. He asserted that his new party would be launched in Haveri on December 9 as scheduled. “I have already taken the decision. My supporters will not trust me if I change my mind at this juncture,” he said.
He, however, refused to divulge details of his meeting with Jaitley.
Yeddyurappa said he had no hard feelings. “I had a wish to complete the full term as the chief minister and make Karnataka a model State. But it did not happen. I hope to fulfil my dream in the coming days. Let me clarify: I am not after power,” he added.