Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa ends speculation, states he will quit office on July 31; MPs VS Acharya and Sadanand Gowda are frontrunners for CM's position
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa ends speculation, states he will quit office on July 31; MPs VS Acharya and Sadanand Gowda are frontrunners for CM's position
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With scam-hit Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa reiterating that he would resign on Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central observers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh began to seek party legislators' views on a successor to form the second BJP government in the state, on Saturday. Sources within the party reveal that Sadanand Gowda and VS Acharya are frontrunners for the position of the chief minister of Karnataka.
Scam-struck Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa
"As per the decision taken by the senior leaders of the party's parliamentary board (Thursday), I will resign from the chief minister's post Sunday afternoon," Yeddyurappa said in a statement from his official residence. He added that he had made a similar statement earlier, but was "clarifying" again since a section of the media was "misleading" the public.
The party's parliamentary board on Thursday directed him to resign following his indictment by Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) Justice (retd) N Santosh Hegde in the multi-crore mining scam in the state. Though the observers and the state party leaders refrained from naming the contenders for the top post, party sources said that Higher Education Minister VS Acharya and Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chickmaglur DV Sadanand Gowda were in the race for the chief minister's chair. Other hopefuls include the party's state unit president KS Eshwarappa and state Irrigation Minister Jagdish Shettar.
On Thursday, Yeddyurappa had asked to choose his successor and insisted on taking up the position of the state unit party president, party sources said.u00a0"The exercise to have a consensus candidate to succeed Yeddyurappa will be completed by Sunday afternoon. The party will meet to elect a new leader soon after the chief minister resigns,"u00a0 State Home Minister R Ashoka told reporters on Saturday.
Speculation was rife at the chief minister's official residence that a deeply hurt Yeddyurappa was plotting to split the party with the support of about 50 legislators and thwart the formation of next BJP government in the state.
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