Somanna or Shobha?

CM in a fix as party heavyweights, led by Shobha Karandlaje, bay for Somanna's blood

Somanna or Shobha?

CM in a fix as party heavyweights, led by Shobha Karandlaje, bay for Somanna's blood

Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is torn between his poll-battered minister, V Somanna, and his good friend, Shobha Karandlaje, who wants Somanna to be stripped of his portfolio.

There's immense pressure on Yeddyurappa to drop Somanna like a hot potato with rural development minister Karandlaje spearheading a hate campaign against him and other ministers from the city including R Ashok, Ramachandra Gowda and Katta Subramanya Naidu joining hands with her.

At the same time, the CM is also scared of losing the support of Lingayat seers including Dru00a0 Shivakumara Swamy of Siddaganga Matt, whose blessings Somanna has.

Yeddyurappa, who was to have discussed the issue in the party forum on Wednesday, took the easy way out and postponed the meeting, leaving it to party office-bearers, who met in the evening. But they could not take a decision as the CM was absent. "We deliberated on it," said V Sadananada Gowda, president of the state BJP, who chaired the meeting. " We will convey what we discussed to the chief minister and it is up to him."

Anti-Somanna wave

Party sources who attended the meeting said nobody present was in favour of retaining Somanna.

"Only G M Siddesh, party vice-president, was concerned about the possible negative impact Somanna's removal would have on the BBMP elections," said an office-bearer. "Otherwise, all the members were in favour of Somanna resigning."

Ananth Kumar, said to be indebted to Somanna for helping him win the Bangalore (South) seat, stayed away from the meeting. Insiders think it was deliberate.

Throwing a tantrum

Meanwhile, Somanna, who was all set to attend a special cabinet meeting in Gulbarga on Thursday, gave it a miss after getting to know of the developments. "Somanna will not attend the cabinet meeting," said a close source to him. "He was so upset that he bluntly conveyed to the CM that he would not attend the cabinet meetings until he cleared the air."

"Yeddyurappa is allowing the pressure within the party to build up against Somanna so that it will be easy to take a tough decision," said a senior BJP leader. "It would be better for Somanna to quit gracefully and avoid public embarrassment."