Faced with dissidence, Yeddyurappa seeks divine blessings

Yeddyurappa flew this morning to Kukke Subramanya temple, as he faced a campaign spearheaded by Ministers from Bellary district, Janardhana Reddy, his brother Karunakara Reddy and their loyalist minister Sreeramulu to oust him.

"Muzrai department (which handles temple affairs) has undertaken many development works in Subramanya temple. Its been many days. I will have Gods darshan and seek his blessings," he said before leaving for Jakkur aerodrome, from where he took off in a helicopter.

However, the chief minister declined to talk about dissident activities. "The party high command has asked me to keep mum (on such matters)."

Ministers loyal to him Umesh Katti, Basavaraja Bommai, Lakshman Savadi and Murugesh Nirani saw him off at the airport.

BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley yesterday wound up his mission to broker peace between the warring factions, but without much success.

The scene has now shifted to Delhi with the party central leadership summoning the principal players to end the impasse. Some dissident MLAs have been camping in Hyderabad and a few others are also believed to be in Goa.