Bangalore, Oct 2 (IANS) BJP leader Arun Jaitley Tuesday met party leaders in Karnataka to defuse the infighting among them even as former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa slammed Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s governance, calling it “scary”.
“The way the government is running is scary. I told the chief minister today that unless his administration focuses on development, I will have no option but to take extreme action,” Yeddyurappa told reporters in his hometown Shimoga.
Yeddyurappa’s unexpected attack on Shettar, whom he had picked to succeed another of his protege D.V. Sadananda Gowda in July this year, came as Jaitley met Shettar and other BJP leaders in Bangalore.
Jaitley also met state BJP general secretary and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashoka.
BJP sources said talks centred on the impact on the prospects of the party in the assembly elections due May next if Yeddyurappa leaves the party as he has been hinting he would by December. Yeddyurappa indicated again Tuesday that he would quit the BJP.
Lashing out at state BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa, who is also from Shimoga, Yeddyurappa said he would never again share the dais with him in Shimoga.
“I will take my road, let him take his. Eshwarappa has been conspiring against me. He wants me out of the party,” Yeddyurappa, who is bitter over not being made state BJP chief, said.
“I am not here to respond to every statement of Yeddyurappa,” Eshwarappa retorted.
The infighting in the ruling party resulted in the postponement of the opening of a park dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Shimoga on Gandhi Jayanti Tuesday.
“Eshwarappa got the inauguration of the park cancelled as he thinks it is a shame to share the dais with me,” Yeddyurappa said.
Yeddyurappa is facing over a dozen cases of corruption and was forced to quit as chief minister last July over mining bribery charges.
