Sources said effecting a leadership change in the state is one of the options under "serious consideration." The party top leadership went into a huddle and after a three-hour brainstorming decided to summon the Karnataka BJP leadership, including the CM to Delhi for "consultations".
The view gaining ground in the party -- and being reinforced by the CM's critics who are smarting after his recent victory during the no-confidence motion -- is that his continuance opens the BJP to the charge of double standards.
While the central leadership decided to sit up and take notice, the Yeddyurappa government decided to order a judicial probe into the denotification of government acquired land over the last 10 years. The Chief Minister is facing allegations of nepotism after it came to light that plots of government land were denotified and allotted to members of his family.
The decision to order a probe was taken at a cabinet meeting. "With the Congress and JD(S) making consistent allegations over land denotification, the government has decided to order a judicial probe of all denotifications of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board or any others over the last 10 years. The terms of reference and the panel will be announced later," Primary Education Minister Vishweshwar Kaggeri said.
Kaggeri said the Chief Minister's work has been appreciated and that the question of him quitting never came up at the cabinet meeting. The central leadership, sources said, decided to know the mind of the state unit before taking a final call. After holding consultations with the top state leaders, sources said an observer could be sent to Bangalore the know the views of the MLAs as well.
Even as the state government discussed the judicial probe, the opposition Janata Dal (S) filed a complaint of corruption and nepotism against the Chief Minister before the Karnataka Lok Ayukta and sought a probe into all denotifications carried out by the Yeddyurappa government.
"We filed a 580-page complaint before Lokayukta with specific allegations against the Chief Minister for denotifying valuable government land to favour members of his family, including his sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijay Kumar, son-in-law Sohan Kumar and some others," JDS MLC Y S V Datta said. He claimed that the denotification scam amounted to Rs 5000 crore.
He has sought a probe on denotification of 180 acres in 78 cases since the BJP came to power in June 2008. Yeddyurappa has abused his position of power by causing a loss to the state exchequer, the complaint says. "The Chief Minister should resign and order a probe if he has any moral authority. He cannot get away by saying these things will not be repeated," said JD(S) legislator M C Nanaiah.
In the midst of a full-blown crisis, Yeddyurappa took time off to visit a temple in Mysore and claimed to have made a promise not to repeat his mistakes. "'I have promised Lord Nanjundeshwara that I will not commit the same mistakes again," Yeddyurappa said.
Source: The Indian Express