BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, who is facing rebellion in the party, could not have asked for more on Thursday. A dozen disgruntled leaders dared him by keeping off from the meeting he had called to sort out the differences.

As many as 12 of the 24 BJP leaders who purportedly signed a letter addressed to Yeddyurappa questioning his style of functioning had been invited to the meeting held at the party office in Bengaluru.

They have been indirectly supporting BJP leader K S Eshwarappa who is cut up with Yeddyurappa over appointment of office-bearers.

Yeddyurappa and four state general secretaries - Arun Kumar, C T Ravi, Ravi Kumar and Aravind Limbavali, waited for them for an hour, but none of the disgruntled leaders turned up. Two vice-presidents M B Bhanuprakash (also a sitting MLC) and Nirmal Kumar Surana, legislators Raghunath Rao Malkapure, Somanna Bevinamarad, among others had confirmed to the media on Wednesday that they will be attending. However, that was not to be.

According to party sources, the disgruntled leaders sent a letter to Yeddyurappa at around 4 pm, the scheduled time of the meeting, putting forth that certain conditions be met if they were to attend the discussions. They have sought that show cause notices issued to leaders Sogadu Shivanna and M B Nandeesh be withdrawn, besides a clarification on why only 12 of the 24 signatories had been invited.

The leaders in their letter, it is learnt, made an observation that when Yeddyurappa had made an open observation to the media that there will be no changes made in the list of office-bearers, there was no point in holding any discussion.

The leaders have objected to Yeddyurappa’s “unilateral decisions” while appointing party office-bearers and other functionaries. They have also sought to know why Yeddyurappa was objecting to Eshwarappa’s association with the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade.

Yeddyurappa remained incommunicado after the meeting failed to take off. Instead, he deputed his party general secretaries, who spoke about stringent action against the leaders for violating party discipline.

“The party president gave them an opportunity to express their views. But they failed to turn up. It is now clear that their intention is not to resolve issues, but to create confusion in the party. This is the third time they are doing it,” Limbavali said.

He said the central leadership had taken note of the developments and it is a matter of time before stringent action is taken against the disgruntled leaders. He also said Eshwarappa should stop making caustic remarks against Yeddyurappa.