Yeddyurappa to meet Modi in Delhi

Bengaluru, May 15 (IANS) An upbeat B.S. Yeddyurappa, the BJP’s Chief Ministerial nominee, would call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah in New Delhi on Wednesday and invite them to the swearing-in ceremony of the party’s new government in Karnataka, said an official on Tuesday.

"Yeddyurappa will leave for Delhi Tuesday night or Wednesday morning to meet Modi and Shah for inviting them to the swearing-in later this week," state party spokesman S. Shantaram told IANS.

Besides Modi and Shah, many Central ministers, Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states and party’s national leaders will be invited to attend the event, which will mark the return of the national party to Karnataka after five years.

"Our national and party leaders will decide on the date and time of Yeddyurappa’s oath-taking as the next Chief Minister in consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office and Shah’s office," said Shantaram.

As the Raj Bhavan in the city centre is too small to accommodate so many VIPs, leaders from the state and thousands of cadres, the ceremony is likely to take place in front of the state’s legislative building (Vidhan Soudha) or at the Kanteerava sports stadium.

"Yeddyurappa and the party’s state unit will decide who and how many legislators will take oath as Cabinet ministers along with him in consultation with our party’s national leaders," added Shantaram.

Yeddyurappa, who won from Shikaripura Assembly segment in Shivamogga district, was the party’s maiden Chief Minister in south India when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power for the first time in May 2008.

The 75-year-old strong Lingayat leader is currently the Lok Sabha member from Shivamogga constituency in the state’s Malnad region, about 300km from Bengaluru.

Though Yeddyurappa brought the party to power and made the party’s lotus symbol bloom in the south of Vindhyas, he was forced to step down in July 2011 after the state’s anti-graft watchdog (Lokayuktha) indicted him in a multi-crore mining scam that rocked Karnataka.