Yeddyurappa to be Karnataka CM Again?

In all probabilities, BS Yeddyurappa is going to be Karnataka chief minister once again. He is hopefully camping in Delhi since yesterday, while the man whom Yeddy wants to replace as chief minister, Sadananda Gowda, has also reached Delhi complying with the party's call.

Sadananda Gowda has met this morning with his party's most senior leaders - LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and finally, BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Last night, Mr Gowda said in Bangalore before taking a chartered plane to Delhi that he had been promised by Mr Gadkari that there would be no change in leadership in Karnataka. Not if Mr Yeddyurappa can help it.Sources in the BJP say the party has accepted that currently, it cannot afford to antagonise Yeddyurappa, who has, since the weekend, proved rather unsubtly that he remains its tallest leader in Karnataka.

Since a court dismissed corruption charges against him last week, Mr Yeddyurappa has been proving his might to his party in Karnataka. He was made to quit as Chief Minister in July, when those charges first surfaced in a report on illegal mining.  There are other cases still in court against him and his family for using his office to help themselves to public land at sweet prices. When Mr Yeddyurappa arrived at the Delhi airport last night, he was asked if he was going to become the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. "I have no idea. High command knows everything," he replied. "All important leaders wanted to meet and Nitin Gadkariji and Jaitelyji told us to come to Delhi. So we're going to meet them," he added.

Interestingly, Gowda was hand-picked by Yeddyurappa as his replacement when he stepped down. Now, Mr Gowda is unwilling to make room for the return of his mentor. A group of nearly 70 of the BJPs MLAs showed their allegiance to Yeddy by moving into a five-star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore. On Tuesday, Mr Yeddyurappa's supporters refused to report to work at the Karnataka Assembly for the budget session. Only after negotiations on Tuesday night with the party's central leadership, Mr Yeddyurappa and his large team showed up in the Assembly on Wednesday.