The moment of reckoning has finally arrived for B.S. Yeddyurappa.
On Thursday, during a lunch meeting, the former chief minister will assess the mood among BJP legislators and count his numbers before making a determined effort to unseat Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda before the budget session of the state Assembly.
Ironically, it was BSY who virtually installed Sadananda Gowda as CM in August last year by ensuring his victory in a secret ballot.
Sources said party national president Nitin Gadkari is sure to have a torrid time making peace between the warring factions with the BSY camp intent on ousting Sadananda Gowda and the CM in no mood to give up tamely without a fight.
The confidence level of the BSY camp has gone up after Yeddyurapa reached out to his arch rival, Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday night which was preceded by a meeting with Bengaluru city legislators on Monday.
Once the BSY faction is confident that it has enough MLAs on its side — more than 50 — they are likely to make a vociferous pitch for his return as CM or his rehabilitation in the party with a post befitting his stature.
Sources said a delegation comprising his close confidants including several ministers, will meet Mr Gadkari and lodge a complaint against the CM on three counts: one, Mr Gowda is now uncomfortably close to the Deve Gowda family and is undermining the BJP’s interests.
Two, the CM has not been releasing funds for constituencies represented by party MLAs, and three, he has not been taking his predecessor into confidence while making crucial decisions.
It remains to be seen if the BSY camp’s strategy succeeds with party president K.S. Eshwarappa set to attend Thursday’s meeting and take the wind out of his sails.
“If Mr Eshwarappa and CM Sadananda Gowda himself attend the meeting, it could spoil the whole purpose—to get as many MLAs as possible to back BSY. The meet could instead become a venue for preaching the need for unity in the party,” a senior party leader told Deccan Chronicle.
