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Reddys remain defiant, Karnataka crisis deepens
LAST UPDATE: Saturday, 7 Nov 2009 - 3:55:29 AM
NEW DELHI: With the Reddy brothers rejecting the BJP leadership’s compromise formula and the leadership’s insistence that B S Yeddyurappa will remain Chief Minister, the focus has now shifted to a show of strength by both the camps.
Karnataka Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy left for Hyderabad to consult ‘his’ MLAs who are camping there, firm on his stand that he wants the Chief Minister ousted and nothing less.
Yeddyurappa, who was to fly back to Bangalore to attend to relief work in floodaffected areas, was forced to cancel his visit and stay put in Delhi, sensing that could lose his seat if the Reddys mounted a show of strength, and won.
After meeting Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and senior leaders, it was a chastened Yeddyurappa who admitted that there was a political crisis in the state, and he has been asked to wait for another 24 hours.
After hectic parleys through the day with the CM and Janardhan Reddy, the leadership came out with a six-point compromise formula.
The CM’s Principal Secretary V P Baligar was removed, and Yeddyurappa said he would unseat Rural Minister Shobha Karandlaje from the Cabinet.
But the Reddy brothers rejected the offer. Janardhan Reddy left for Hyderabad, saying he would settle for nothing less than Yeddyurappa’s scalp, hoping that there would be a breakthrough within 2 to 3 days.
The political focus has now shifted to the ‘number-game’ with rebel MLAs threatening to resign. The dissidents’ camp claimed that 52 MLAs had already faxed their resignations to Janardhan Reddy.
So, with the leadership in no mood to relent and giving an ultimatum to the MLAs to fall-in-line or face elections, the political crisis in Karnataka has deepened. The ball is now in the Reddys’ camp.
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