Yeddyurappa gives dharna a miss due to low turnout?

Sources close to him say that he did not want to add to traffic chaos near the venue

Yeddyurappa gives dharna a miss due to low turnout?

Sources close to him say that he did not want to add to traffic chaos near the venue

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Former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's pledge to launch a sit-in in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on MG Road in support of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign, failed yesterday. Several speculations over the reasons reared their heads, but a few were brow raising and even bordered on hilarious.

Wide berth: Sources say senior BJP leaders have forbidden
Yeddyurappa from getting involved in such things till he comes clean
on corruption charges. File pic

Sources said that Yeddyurappa gave the event a miss because the low turnout, which would have given out the wrong message. Some even said that he did not want to add to the chaotic traffic situation near the venue by turning up.

Hackles were raised when Yeddyurappa, main accused in numerous graft cases, which eventually led to his ouster, announced on Wednesday that he would stage a dharna to show his solidarity to Anna Hazare.

Duty bound
While condemning the government for Hazare's arrest, he had said India is responding to Anna's call to eradicate corruption. "As a citizen of India it is my duty to support the cause and I will launch a dharna and urge upon the government to table an effective Lokpal bill," he had said.

While the stage was set for the farce, the BJP high command is understood to have warned him against proceeding further. "It would have been a big joke and an embarrassment to the BJP. Senior leaders have forbidden Yeddyurappa from getting involved in such things till he comes clean on corruption charges," a BJP leader said.

Well attired?
Earlier, the party high command had permitted him to go on a sit-in on his personal capacity and added a condition that it would be de-linked from the BJP. However, it was later decided to disallow his participation, while hints of the party workers taking part did the rounds. A disappointed Yeddyurappa stayed out of the picture while party colleagues, including Minister Renukacharya and Legislator Beluru Gopalakrishna went ahead. Sources from Yeddyurappa's family said that the former CM had even purchased a new khadi kurtha for the occasion.

Stranger than fiction?
While BJP leaders at the venue faced a tough time explaining Yeddyurappa's absence to reporters, some of them had rather lame answers. Renukacharya, who is seen a Yeddyurappa loyalist said, "He wanted to come, but dropped the idea as he did not want to disturb the public life. His followers would have turned out in thousands and it would have disturbed the traffic flow in the busy MG Road area."

Meanwhile, the turnout at Freedom Park barely crossed the 100-mark and at some point it was rumoured that this was one of the reasons why Yeddyurappa did not show up. "This would have been his first public program after he stepped down as CM and the low turnout would have sent a wrong signal. Therefore, we advised him to give it a pass and he obliged," said a source close to him.

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