Crisis over,BSY drops minister

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday let go of his trusted confidante Shobha Karandlaje as Rural Development Minister...

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday let go of his trusted confidante Shobha Karandlaje as Rural Development Minister,in the second public display of the compromise he has struck with a rebel group in the BJP to remain in power. Despite Yeddyurappa claiming that there would be no dropping of any of his ministers as part of the compromise deal hammered out with the rebel Reddy brothers of Bellary to keep his government on track,signs of the broad contours of the deal,including the dropping of ministers,and creation of super structures to oversee party and government issues,have already emerged.

On Monday afternoon,the only woman in Yeddyurappas Cabinet tendered her resignation as per instructions given by Yeddyurappa,and the CM accepted and forwarded the same to the Governor on Monday evening.

Following a meeting with the Governor to apprise him of the status of the BJP government,Yeddyurappa said he was pained to drop a hardworking minister like Karandlaje but also added that it was his fate.

Karandlajes removal comes on the heels of the November 6 transfer of Yeddyurappas principal secretary V P Baligar. The heads of both the CMs close associates had been sought by the rebel BJP MLAs as appeasement.

Yeddyurappa had on arrival from Delhi in the early hours of Monday,following an end to the 14-day stand-off with the rebels,stated that there would be no question of dropping any of his ministers as part of the deal with the Reddy brothers. Later on Monday,however,he changed track and said a decision on the dropping of ministers or changing of portfolios would be taken by a core committee to be constituted to oversee state BJP matters,as a fallout of the 14-day strife in the state. It has not been decided who are the ministers to be dropped. All these issues would be discussed at the core committee meeting, he said on Monday morning.

The core committee to be constituted shortly to oversee BJP affairs is expected to be attended by senior leader Sushma Swaraj and party general secretary Ananth Kumar,as per the compromise formula evolved on Sunday.

All important issues will be debated upon at the core committee meeting and decisions will be taken. It will certainly lighten my burden, Yeddyurappa said.

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Rebel Tourism and Infrastructure Minister G Janardhan Reddy,who arrived here with his supporting cast of 52 MLAs late on Monday,said a co-ordination committee under the leadership of Sushma Swaraj will look after all government activity as well. All the ministers,MLAs problems will be sorted out through the coordination committee. The committee will look after every problem of our MLAs, Reddy said while adding that even Yeddyurappa would be answerable to the co-ordination committee. Yeddyurappa has also claimed that he would be a different Chief Minister henceforth.

The Reddy group was slated to meet Yeddyurappa and Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar,who was identified for some time during the crisis as the CM candidate of the rebels,following arrival here on Monday evening.

After days of silence,the Congress emerged into the public sphere with comments on the rebellion in the BJP government. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah questioned the constitutional validity of a super structure like a co-ordination committee to oversee government functioning since it features leaders not elected by the people of Karnataka. The BJP government in Karnataka has become like a coalition government comprising the Yeddyurappa group and the Reddy brothers group. The co-ordination committee will tell Yeddyurappa how to function according to the whims of the Reddy group, he said. The CM has to explain to the people every compromise decision taken by him to favour the Reddy group,including the sacking of the Rural Development Minister,he said. The whole compromise agreement has to be put in front of the people, he claimed.