Putting up a brave face amid stepped up dissident activities against him, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa asserted that he will not be removed from the post.

"There is no dissidence in BJP. The only demand is that Assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar should be given some suitable position. He would be made a minister," he said after performing special pooja for Lord Subramanya.

Yeddyurappa claimed there would be no change in his leadership which has been amply made clear by party leader Arun Jaitley, who was rushed here for patch-up efforts but failed to broker a truce between the warring factions.

"Jaitley himself has praised my leadership and my Government's working," he said even as both the camps were engaged in the numbers game.

Legislators loyal to Yeddyruappa joined the "number game race" claiming that their camp enjoyed the support of 85 members while rebels asserted they have 80 MLAs 80 on their side. The BJP legislature party has 117 members.

"Some of the MLAs whose support the rebels are claiming are actually with Yeddyurappa," Labour Minister B N Bacchegowda told reporters after releasing a list of 85 MLAs including Yeddyurappa to counter the dissidents' claim that their numbers were swelling.

However, sources in the dissident camp, which is trying to project Shettar as an alternative to Yeddyurappa, claimed the numbers have shot up to 80 from 67. More than 60 MLAs have been shifted to Hyderabad and Goa by rebel leader and Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy, sources said.

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