I won't quit, Gadkari is happy with me: K'taka CM

Mired in charges of corruption and nepotism, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday dismissed suggestions that Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari and RSS were 'unhappy' with him and ruled out leadership change in the state.

"I spoke to our party President Nitin Gadkari last night and briefed him elaborately over the media reports (on the allegations)," said Yeddyurappa, who has come under attack from the Opposition, which is seeking his ouster over alleged land scams and has questioned the allotment of land to a firm in which his two sons are partners.

"I will continue as chief minister for the remaining two and a half years," he told media persons in Bengaluru.

Yeddyurappa claimed that Gadkari expressed 'happiness' over the performance of his government, even as party sources said the BJP chief will soon be visiting Bengaluru for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

"The reports that Gadkari and RSS are unhappy with me are only a media creation," Yeddyurappa said.

Yeddyurappa denied that he had written to top BJP leaders against National General Secretary H N Anantkumar accusing him of working against his government and making attempts to topple it.

"Anantkumar and myself have worked for building the party. There are no differences between us," the chief minister said.

Rattled over the graft allegations against its first-ever government in the south, Gadkari has decided to visit the city for an on the spot assessment of the situation, party sources said.

Top party leaders are seized of the issue of alleged scams, they said. Yeddyurappa had earlier said he was ready to order a judicial probe into de-notification and allotment of lands and sites in the last ten years if the opposition agreed.

 

The chief minister said the cabinet would meet on Thursday evening to decide on the "nature" of judicial probe to be ordered into land de-notification and land allotment in the last ten years.

The cabinet will decide whether the judicial probe should be headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge or by a retired judge, he said.

According to party sources, the party is also concerned over allegations against some of the state ministers, including Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje and IT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu.

Sources said the RSS could step into action if more scandals surfaced.

Meanwhile, BJP's Karnataka unit president K S Eswarappa has decided to serve a legal notice to a leading Kannada daily which had published an article accusing him of securing allotment of land from the state owned industrial development board by exerting pressure, sources said.