I have politely refused to stay in BJP: Yeddyurappa

Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday clarified that there was no change in his stand and he was going to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

His statement came in the wake of the talks he held with senior party leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday night.

"I have great respect for Jaitley. I have very politely told him that there is no chance of me changing my mind. I will resign by the end of this month and I have conveyed the same to him as well," Yeddyurappa said.

"I met Arun Jaitley in Bangalore and discussed the political situation with him. I will float a political party on December 9, a regional one," he said.

"I had made it clear long back that Dhananjay Kumar will be the president of the new party and preparations to that effect are going on," he said.

The political circles in Karnataka are abuzz over Yeddyurappa's decision. Political experts believe that both the disgruntled leader and his party are trying to buy time till the Gujarat elections.

Party insiders claim that the political uncertainty will continue till the end of the Gujarat elections. One of Yeddyurappa's demands – to stay on in the BJP – was the removal of Nitin Gadkari from the party president's post. According to sources, the BJP top brass has assured him that such a change will take place once the Gujarat elections are over.

But sources in the Yeddyurappa camp rubbish this claim and state that there is no question of the former CM changing his mind. Others believe that he is already in talks with the Congress and will forge an alliance with the party after the Karnataka elections next year.