Karnataka: Fight for deputy CM's post turns ugly

After effecting a chief ministerial change in Karnataka, state Bharatiya Janata Party leader B S Yeddyurappa not wants his protege Shobha Karandlage as the state's deputy chief minister.

With the deadlock persisting in the BJP, both factions -- one led by Yeddyuappa and the other by former chief minister Sadananda Gowda -- are expected to take part in the legislature party meeting on Tuesday to put forth their demand.

However, in the present circumstance, the meeting is unlikely to happen on Tuesday.

The Yeddyurappa faction is dead against having K S Eshwarappa as the deputy chief minister and instead wants its own candidate to head the post.

In keeping with the sentiments of the prominent Vokkaliga community, which has been demanding the deputy chief minister's post for one of its community leaders, the Yeddyurappa camp is rooting for Karandlage.

They also have other back-ups in case Karandlage's name doesn't find favour -- Revu Nayak and Raju Gowda.

Meanwhile, the war between the two factions is on the rise with the Gowda camp stating that the former cannot dictate terms on every aspect.

We will convey this to the senior leaders from Delhi and if they do not agree to our demands, we will not have the party legislature meeting, an MLA in the Gowda camp told rediff.com.

For a new leader to be elected it is essential that Gowda turns up at the meeting, as he is still the chief minister. The entire strength is necessary for this meeting to take place and only if there is a majority vote can Jagadish Shettar be elected as the new leader.

The BJP leadership from New Delhi comprising Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh are doing their best to ensure that the situation is brought under control.

Their first attempt was to dismiss the deputy chief minister's post, as they believed that it would create another power centre in the state.

The other issue that they were trying to address was to bring both the factions together for talks, but that appears to have failed and they have decided to meet the Gowda faction separately now.