A meeting that was meant to layout the roadmap for the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party ended abruptly on Friday with some tough talk by party president Nithin Gadkari aimed directly at former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
"Those who wish to quit the party may do so today itself; why wait until tomorrow?" were Gadkari's words during his address at the meet in Bengaluru on Friday.
There has been a tug of war between the BJP leadership and Yeddyurappa over a change of chief minister, and the former CM has been trying everything under the sun to arm-twist the party leadership.
However, Gadkari repeated this again during the meeting that there was no question of dislodging existing Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda.
"Follow the party principles as there is nothing bigger than that. There shall be no change in leadership. If people want to quit the party or even split it while compromising on the party's principle,s then do so today itself. Why wait until tomorrow and threaten?," he thundered.
"The party cannot compromise on its ideology at any cost. For us, ideology and principles are most important. The party in a bid to upkeep the principles and its ideology would not mind compromising its own government. The principles of the party cannot be compromised to fulfil the ambitions of one man," he added.
Gadkari added that all internal problems in the BJP will be resolved after the Udupi-Chickmagalur by-elections.
This seat fell vacant after Gowda resigned from his member of Parliament membership after he took over as Karnataka CM.
Right after the tough talk by Gadkari, the meeting ended in a huff and all members of Legislative Assemblty left the venue. A sulking Yeddyurappa returned to his residence and will now meet with his loyalists to chalk out his next move.
He had said on Thursday that a stern decision would be taken on February 27 if the central leadership fails to address his concerns. It is to be seen what would transpire out of the meeting later in the evening.
