B S Yeddyurappa is miffed to see archrival H N Ananth Kumar in the fray to be new CM of the state. He may try everything in his arsenal to ensure Kumar doesn't get the chief minister chair, which could add to BJP's woes
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B S Yeddyurappa might have tendered resignation yesterday, but a stalemate has developed over choosing a new chief minister with the inclusion of MP (Bangalore South) H N Ananth Kumar in race. Perturbed over seeing his archrival in the fray, Yeddyurappa is believed to be bracing his camp, which is pushing MP Sadananda Gowda from Mangalore to the eventuality of facing elections by showing the numbers against Ananth.


Over and out!u00a0Yeddyurappa's resignation was nothing short of a drama
with him choosing the time just before rahukaala, which is an inauspicious
period.

The BJP legislative party meeting scheduled for the evening after Yeddyurappa took a walk from his Race Course Road residence to Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation to Governor H R Bhardwaj, did not happen as the representatives of the high command -- Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley -- could decide on a new leader with the warring factions sticking to their guns.


Eye of the storm: Soon after submitting his resignation to the Governor,
Yeddyurappa addressed the media outside Raj Bhavan. Pic/Ramesh HS

Jet setting
Singh and Jaitley left for Delhi last night with the stalemate continuing. Dharamendra Pradhan, in-charge of party affairs in the state, said that the party would decide on the new CM on August 3 after considering views of both the factions.

"It has become a showdown between Yeddyurappa and Ananth. Yeddyurappa doesn't want to see Ananth as his successor, while the latter is leaving no stone unturned to achieve his end," said a senior BJP leader.
While Jagadish Shettar, minister for rural development and panchayat raj, is being projected as the CM candidate from the Ananth Kumar camp, sources said that the real contender from group was Ananth himself.

Battle fodder?
Ananth, who is seen as L K Advani's man, is pushing his case through the high command and the Yeddyurappa camp is not buying it. To spoil his chance, the camp is said to have prepared documents to link Ananth in some irregularities, including his scandalous dalliance with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia. The other camp is also reportedly prepared with evidence to expose scams involving possible candidates Shettar and state BJP president K S Eswarappa.

"Corruption is the issue now. Yeddyurappa stepped down because of the charges leveled against him. What is the point in bringing someone tainted to replace him? Sadananda is a party man with a clean image. I don't know what is preventing him from clearing his name," said a member of the Yeddyurappa camp.

For a friend
Yeddyurappa indirectly made known his choice of Sadananda to the public yesterday afternoon before tendering his resignation. "We have finalised a candidate, who is a friend, to be the new CM and I am happily stepping down owing to the orders of the high command," Yeddyurappa said. Yeddyurappa's resignation was nothing short of a drama with him choosing the time just before rahukaala, which is an inauspicious period between 4.30 pm to 6 pm.

However, he did give party high command some tense moments as he did not turn up till 4 pm after informing that he would put in his papers at 3.30 pm. He finally showed up at 4.10 pm with around 28 MLAs and 14 MPs accompanying him on the march to the Raj Bhavan to hand over his resignation to the governor.