K’taka crisis: 67 BJP lawmakers bat for Yeddy

Bangalore : A letter signed by 67 of the 120 ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators in Karnataka seeking re-instatement of scam-hit former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has been sent to the BJP national leadership, a minister said here late Monday.

“We have sent to our leaders in Delhi a letter signed by 67 legislators seeking immediate legislature party meeting to elect Yeddyurappa as leader,” Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters.

The number is three less than Yeddyurappa has been claiming since Sunday when he set a 48-hour deadline for removing his successor D.V. Sadananda Gowda and giving back the chief minister’s post to him.

In related developments, more than 10 BJP parliament members from the state met senior party leader Sushma Swaraj in Delhi demanding immediate re-instatement of Yeddyurappa, who quit over corruption charges July 31 last year.

BJP sources here said that Swaraj has told the delegation that a decision can only be taken collectively by the party central leadership. She reminded them that the decision to seek Yeddyurappa’s resignation following Lokayukta (ombudsman) indicting him over the mining issue in the state was also a collective one, the sources said.